"Never Again!" or "Yes, Again!"

Chapter 10

The Time of Jacob’s Trouble

A Future Time Awaiting the Jewish People

“Alas!  for that day is great, so that none is like it:  it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;  but he shall be saved out of it” (Jer. 30:7).

God, through Abraham and his progeny — through Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob’s twelve sons — called Israel into existence for special, particular purposes.  The Word of God would be given through Israel, the Saviour would come through Israel, and the nations of the earth would be reached and blessed through Israel.

Israel has given mankind the Word of God and the Saviour, but blessings awaiting man, beyond those presently inherent in the written Word and the Word made flesh, are being withheld because of Israel’s covenantal disobedience, spanning centuries of time.

(Certain blessings for mankind have resulted during the time of Israel’s disobedience because of the Jewish people’s very presence [e.g., advances in medicine, science, etc.] but NOTHING like the blessings God has in store for mankind when the Jewish people occupy their proper and rightful place relative to the nations.)

Conditions which have existed throughout the centuries of Israel’s disobedience though will not continue indefinitely.  Time is fast running out, the 6,000 years forming Man’s Day are almost over, and Israel’s repentance will occur at the end of this time — at the end of Man’s Day, with a view to Israel occupying her God-ordained and God-appointed place among the nations and the Lord’s 1,000-year Day subsequently being ushered in.

According to Scripture, Israel’s repentance — the ONE THING holding all of this up — will occur during the coming “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7).  And this time, spoken of by Jeremiah — along with all the other Prophets, after one fashion or another — forms the last seven years of Man’s Day, the last seven years of Daniel’s Seventy-Week (490-year) prophecy, with the Jewish people being brought to the place of repentance near the end of this time.

But to arrive at this place at the end of Man’s Day, God has been at work with a stiff-necked and disobedient people for, actually, time dating back to near the inception of the nation during Moses’ day, 3,500 years ago.  And God, throughout the intervening centuries, has done it His way, in His time, in exact accord with His Word.

Because of covenantal disobedience, lasting for some seven and eight centuries — from Moses’ day to the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities — God, true to His Word (Lev. 26:14ff; Deut. 28:15ff), eventually uprooted His people from their land and drove them out among the nations.  And God did this to effect repentance through Gentile persecution (His way, in His time).

Israel, remaining scattered among the Gentiles, over centuries of time (twenty-six centuries), has repeatedly suffered persecution after persecution at the hands of the nations.  But, after having passed through fire after fire during this time, Israel has yet to pass through a fire intense enough to bring the nation to the place of repentance.

The Holocaust during the WWII years, after almost 2,600 years of Gentile persecution, wasn’t intense enough to bring about repentance.  But the furnace is about to be heated SEVEN TIMES HOTTER.  And this time, repentance WILL BE forthcoming.

Thus, God has taken the Jewish people through these 2,600 years of persecution at the hands of the Gentiles, for a revealed purpose.  And that purpose has to do with bringing the Jewish people to a particular TIME, in a particular CONDITION.

“The time” has to do with the end of Man’s Day.  And time comprising Man’s Day is about to run out, which means that God MUST shortly bring about the realization of His purpose for the past 2,600 years of Jewish persecution.

“The condition” has to do with the place which the Jewish people now occupy, particularly the 6,000,000 forming the present Nation of Israel.

But first, to form the necessary background to properly lead into the place which the Jewish people occupy near the end of Man’s Day, the Holocaust in Europe during the WWII years will be briefly discussed.  That which is about to occur, the coming holocaust, can only be properly understood in the light of ALL previous Jewish persecution, which, to date, was brought to an apex in the past Holocaust.

The Holocaust

Europe — World War II

In the pre-Third-Reich days (preceding 1933), many of the 9,500,000 Jews scattered throughout Europe found themselves living in large cities and countries where little persecution seemed to exist.  So many Jews had migrated to Amsterdam (mainly because of the arts) that the city was referred to as the Jerusalem of the North.  Vienna, with similar cultural values, was another major city of this nature.  And the whole of Germany was a country of somewhat similar nature.

Many of the Jews, who had long since given up on any true Messianic hope, had settled down in different parts of Europe, finding somewhat of an alternative for what was left of their Messianic hope, particularly in civilized Lutheran Germany.

But all of this was COMPLETELY CONTRARY to God’s purpose for uprooting His people from their land centuries before and scattering them among the nations.  And to move things back on track, God simply replaced the ruler in Germany (Dan. 4:17, 25).

In January, 1933, Hitler rose to power in Germany, the Third Reich came into existence, and things began to rapidly change for the Jews in Germany, later the Jews throughout Europe.

Thus, God simply removed one ruler in Germany and replaced him with not only one of the worst anti-Semites of that day but a man who could bring about changes of a nature throughout Europe that any past persecution of the Jews in that part of the world could only pale by comparison.  This man, during the twelve years of his power in Germany, would change things completely.  He would take the Jewish people from thoughts of a European Messianic equivalent to the sentence of death upon all, ultimately resulting in the death of about two-thirds of Europe’s Jews in the Holocaust.

In short, God used this man and his Third Reich to turn things around relative to His plans and purposes for the Jewish people in Europe.  Then, once God was through with this man and his Third Reich, He stepped in and destroyed both (cf. Ex. 9:15, 16; Rev. 17:16, 17).

And, with the preceding in mind, in reality, the proper Biblical way to look at what happened in Europe during the twelve-year reign of the Third Reich is very simple:  GOD REMAINED TRUE TO HIS WORD.

God had told the Jewish people what He would do if they disobeyed His covenant (the Mosaic [Lev. 26:14ff; Deut. 28:15ff]), the Jewish people HAD DISOBEYED, and GOD HAD SIMPLY KEPT HIS WORD.

The whole matter of Jewish persecution during those twelve years, even the extremes that God allowed it to reach, is that simple to understand.  GOD SIMPLY KEPT HIS WORD, nothing more, nothing less.

The Holocaust

Worldwide — The Time of Jacob’s Trouble

With the preceding in mind, note how God is about to keep His Word once again.  But this time, in a respect, the past Holocaust will pale by comparison when viewing that which Scripture reveals about the havoc that the individual God is about to place in power will bring upon the Jewish people.

Hitler and his Third Reich sought to produce a Jew-free Europe.  This man, seated on Satan’s throne, exercising Satan’s power, will seek to produce a Jew-free world.

And, resulting from this man’s persecution of the Jewish people, after 2,600 years in the diaspora, the Jewish people WILL BE brought to the place of repentance.  Then, exactly as at the end of the past Holocaust, after this man has served God’s purpose, he and his kingdom will be destroyed.

As seen, parallels exist between events surrounding the past Holocaust and the future Holocaust.

During the past Holocaust, the Jews in Europe (about half of world Jewry in that day), as previously stated, were realizing what many could only have viewed as somewhat of a Messianic equivalent during the diaspora.  Then God moved, placed a particular man in power, and things began to change almost overnight.

And exactly the same thing is presently happening and is about to happen to the Jews in the Middle East forming the present Nation of Israel.  And, as well, this is affecting and will affect Jews worldwide (the latter far more so in days ahead).

At the end of WWII, the surviving Jews throughout Europe were literally a wandering people without a home, with no place to go.  Their property had been confiscated, destroyed, and they didn’t even know who was still alive or who had died.

For the most part, the only place that they really had to turn was to a land given to them through an everlasting covenant 4,000 years ago.  And this is what numerous Jews did, continued to do for years to come, and continue to do even today.

But there was a problem involved, a problem which still exists, A MAJOR PROBLEM.

This land was part of the complete house left desolate until a certain time, until Israel could say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Matt. 23:39).  And Israel COULDN’T do this yet.

Further, according to Matt. 12:43-45, if the Jewish people took it upon themselves to reenter this desolate house before they could say that stated in Matt. 23:39, dire consequences would result.  Seeking to emancipate themselves in this fashion, apart from their Messiah, would not only guarantee another Holocaust overtaking them but, this time, one intensified SEVEN TIMES.

And, exactly as God allowed the Jews to settle down in Europe before He raised up a man to take care of matters, He has allowed the Jews to return to their own land to do EXACTLY the same thing before He raises up another man to take care of matters.

 And today, with a Jewish nation in the land, comprised of about 6,000,000 Jews (about two-fifths of world Jewry), that which could and will be lost by these Jews is far, far greater than the loss suffered by the Jews in Europe beginning in 1933.

The Jews are seemingly back in the land today awaiting their Messiah.  But not so!  They, in reality, are back in the land awaiting the man of sin.

They are in possession of the complete city of Jerusalem, though they have allowed the Temple Mount to remain under Islamic control.  But plans are being made to rebuild their Temple, which means that at least a part of the Temple Mount will shortly, somehow, have to come back under Jewish control.

And it is plain from Rev. 11:1, 2 that a Temple, with sacrifices being offered, will exist in the land when God raises up a man near the middle of the Tribulation (the seventh of a succession of rulers in that day [Dan. 11:1ff; Rev. 17:8-11]) who will change things in a much, much faster and a far, far more horrific respect than was done in 1933 and the succeeding years, ushering in a future Holocaust, INTENSIFIED SEVEN TIMES.

And not only will intensity be involved, but note what the Jewish people have to lose this time — not just a temporary place in Gentile lands, forming a Messianic alternative.  This time it will have to do with the Jewish nation itself, their own land, with rebuilt cities, and a rebuilt Temple with reestablished Temple worship.

This is what is ALL going to come crashing down.  The Jewish people will be uprooted from their land, a tenth killed, and the remainder driven back out among the nations with the rest of world Jewry, where two-thirds of the world’s Jews (above 9,000,000 by today’s count) will die by the sword, hunger, or plagues (cf. Lev. 26:31-33; Isa. 6:11-13; Dan. 9:26; Joel 3:1-8; Matt. 24:15ff; Luke 21:20ff; Rev. 12:6, 14).

Conditions will be such in those days that it can only appear to the Jewish people THAT EVERYTHING HAS BEEN LOST!  THE END HAS COME!

The Jewish people will be brought to the end of themselves.  And, IN THIS MANNER, God’s 2,600-year work with Israel will be concluded.  The Jewish people, at long last, will be brought to the place of repentance.