“And so all Israel will be saved,as it is written:
The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;” (Rom. 11:26)

“Following our recent meeting, I gathered the below. Feel free to add to these lists.” – Maor S.

Verses about All Israel saved in the day of the Lord after the GT being the remnant that survived the Sword of the Covenant:

Isa.4:3 (“For those of Israel who have escaped”) also see Isa. 66:19
Isa. 10:20-21 (“such as have escaped…”)
Isa.11:11 (“to recover the remnant of His people who are left”)
Isa. 26:1-2 (“In that day…the righteous nation…”)
Isa. 27:12-13
Isa. 30:26 (“…seven days….binds up the bruise of His people…”)
Isa. 32:15 (“Until the Spirit is poured…”)
Isa. 41:8
Isa. 44:3
Isa. 45:17, 25 (“But Israel shall be saved by the Lord…”)
Isa. 53:6 (“All we like sheep…[All the Jewish people who are left will say this])
Isa. 54:7-10,13 (“For a mere moment…”)
Isa. 59:20-21
Isa.60:15-16,21 (“also your people shall all be righteous…”)
Isa. 61:1-11.
Isa. 65:23
Isa. 66:8
Jer. 30:22 (“you shall be My people…”)
Jer. 31:1-2 (“all the families of Israel ” “survived the sword”)
Jer. 31:33-34 (“for they all shall know Me…)
Jer. 32:37-42
Eze. 20:40-44 (“…there all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve Me;”)
Eze. 28:24-26
Eze. 34:25 (“I will make a covenant of peace with them”)
Eze. 36:33 (“Thus says the Lord GOD: “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt.”)
Eze. 37:23-25 (“Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God”)
Eze. 39:22-29 (“‘And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord GOD.”)
Hos. 1:10 (“…you are the sons of the living God”)
Hos. 3:5 (“Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days.”)
Hos. 14:4-7 (“I will heal their backsliding…”)
Joe. 2:18-19
Joe.3:16
Mic. 7:18-20
Zeph. 3:12-20
Zech.8:7-8
Zech. 10:6-12
Zech. 12:10 + Rev.1:7
Psa. 14:7 (“salvation of Israel “)
Dan. 2:44 (“…and the kingdom shall not be left to other people;”)
Dan. 12:1-2 (“…And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book…”)

All Israel never to depart after the everlasting righteousness of the everlasting covenant is realized:

Isa. 59:20-21
Jer. 31:34
Jer.32:40
Eze. 36:27 – They will be persevered in holiness

Verses related to the Hiding of the Face theme:

Deut. 31:17-28
Deut. 32:20
Job 13:24
Job 34:29
Isa. 8:17
Isa. 45:15
Isa. 54:8
Isa. 57:17
Isa. 59:2,9
Isa. 64:7
Jer. 33:5
Ezek. 39:23,24,29
Psa. 10:1
Psa. 13:1
Psa. 30:7
Psa. 44:24
Psa. 89:46

Blessings,

Maor

The post All Israel Shall Be Saved (Podcast and List of Scriptures) – [AUDIO] appeared first on Mystery of Israel.

Without doubt, what seemed so hopelessly remote and improbable only two years ago appears to be moving at an unprecedented pace towards the deceptive Mideast peace that sets the stage for the final sequence of events leading to the Lord’s return. Just what form this will take or how long it will be in its development remains to be seen, but prophecy clearly shows that a disarming illusion of peace is the necessary prelude to the shock that must come to Israel and the world.

The danger that besets these exciting developments is the tendency to make premature announcements that discredit prophecy just when its greatest potential for witness and warning is nearing the appointed time when it will be time to say with assurance and authority, “this is that!” (Acts 2:16). Even now, well meaning prophecy watchers are making premature declarations that the final seven has already started.

Others are more cautious to say only that the conditions necessary for the peace that begins the final seven are falling fast into place. Although a necessary first step, the enforcement of a multi-national peace arrangement is not by itself sufficient to signal the start of the last seven, UNLESS this is accompanied by certain equally foretold conditions and signal events. This is what we want to look at in what follows, as it will be a safeguard against the false alarms and premature announcements that are sure to fill the air.

It might be time well repaid for serious students of the scripture to become at least somewhat familiar and respectful of the kind of difficulties and perplexities that have baffled Daniel scholars of all schools (Prov 18:13<; 2Tim 2:15). It is well to remember that according to Daniel’s prophecy, certain outstanding details will not be unsealed till the end is very near (Dan 12:4, 9). Yet, the scripture is equally clear that these things will be revealed well enough before the end to ‘prepare a people to prepare a people’ (Dan 11:33; 12:3, 10).

So while we can expect the signs that Daniel reveals to come into increasing clarity as the time nears, caution, patience, and humility is appropriate, since no other book has given rise to more diverse and conflicting interpretations.

Not only this, but Daniel has been the most tortured object of critical attack by so-called higher criticism than any book of the canon. This should not surprise us, since Satan knows that the end of his rule has been set according to Daniel’s timeline (Rev 12:12).

The difficulties that have plagued Daniel scholarship is not a call to resigned despair or neglect, but to prayer and patient waiting for the promised unsealing that is divinely set to serve its greatest purpose at “the time of the end” (Dan 8:17; 11:27, 35, 40; 12:4, 9, 13). Part of that purpose will be the compelling witness of fulfilled prophecy and its meaning as a catalyst for what scripture more than hints will be the greatest worldwide harvest of souls in history (compare Dan 11:33; 12:3; Mt 24:14; Rev 7:9, 13-14; 14:6).

Paradoxically the great number that will be saved out of “the tribulation, the great one” (double use of the definite article in the Greek) will take place during the time of the greatest deception and revolt against the truth (Mt 24:4-5, 11, 24; 2Thes 2:11; Rev 13:14).

The difficulties that have baffled and divided Daniel scholarship only further confirms that God has chosen to keep certain mysteries under wraps till the appointed time (Isa 8:14-17; Dan 9:24; 12:4, 9). It is also no surprise that Satan is fully invested to obscure and discredit this most embattled of all biblical books.

The unequaled tribulation of the final half week begins with a war in heaven. Michael “stands” to thrust Satan down to earth. This is the moment Satan fears most, since it means his tenure as “the god of this age” has been reduced to a final 3 ½ years (compare Dan 12:1, 11; Mt 24:15, 21, with Rev 12:7-14).

Because “he sees his time is short” (Rev 12:12), his total focus will be to defeat the promise by wiping out the Jewish race before it reaches the finish line at Jesus’ post-tribulational return to “finish the mystery of God” (Amos 3:7 with Rev 10:7). Hence, it may well be said that the downfall of the devil is in the details of Daniel, since the unsealing of Daniel’s prophecy sets in motion the final unmasking of Satan in the revelation of the ancient mystery of lawlessness in the revelation of the man of lawlessness (2Thes 2:3-4, 7-8).

Until then, there is much that can be known that will be decisive in whether we are prepared to recognize what is most urgent to know in the time most urgent to know it. Until then, we should approach the mysteries of Daniel with humility and patience, in the faith conviction that difficulties that seem to defy easy resolution do not exist by chance but by sovereign design. God intends that His children know they are searching out a divinely ordained mystery that is not intended to yield its full light apart from the mercy and grace of our sovereign teacher, the Holy Spirit.

Those will be most blessed in the time of full disclosure who have “searched and inquired diligently” (1Pet 1:10). Blessed are those who, in trembling dependence on the Holy Spirit, have “set their heart” to understand (Dan 10:12) the divine secrets that it has been God’s pleasure to conceal from the prideful, self-reliant wisdom of this age (Mt 11:25-26; 1Cor 2:7-8).

Not that we will resolve every question, but we want to know what the evidence rules out, rules in, or leaves open to question till the time. We want to identify any safeguards that the scripture provides that will protect us from the peril of presumption, as prophecy has been so marred and discredited by the false alarms of prophetic speculation.

But there is a time to sound the alarm, and it is always time to study and prepare ourselves to recognize the time when it arrives. We want to be neither early nor late when it is time to announce that “the time is fulfilled” (Dan 11:33; 12:3; Hab 2:2-3; Mk 1:15).

From our study, it seems most probable that the scripture intends that we look for the Antichrist to arise from somewhere to the north of Israel. Since the pattern of the past often prefigures the future in Hebrew prophecy, it becomes significant that the final aggressor, whose end coincides with the redemption of the great day, is specifically called “the Assyrian” in the typology of the pre-exilic prophets, Isaiah and Micah (Isa 10:5-6, 24:17; 11:4; 14:25; 19:23; 30:31; 31:8; Mic 5:1-7).

In Isaiah and Jeremiah, the foe from the north (“north country”) is identified with the Chaldeans under the king of Babylon (Isa 14:4, 12-14, 25-26, 31-32; 23:14; 47:1, 6, 9; Jer 6:22; 10:22; 50:9). In Ezekiel, the last aggressor is Gog. Clearly, this is the final aggressor, long foretold, not only by Ezekiel but by the many prophets of Israel (see Eze 38:17).

The nations under his command surround Israel from all sides (Eze 38:5-7, 9), but his descent is always depicted as coming from the “far north” (NKJV; NIV) / “uttermost parts of the north” (ESV; ASV) / “distant north” (NLT) / “remotest parts of the north” (NASB / CSB  (Eze 38:15; 39:2).

Here too, there is cause for caution. Who is Gog? When does he attack and how long does the battle last? How far north is his country or countries of origin?

Since Gog’s multinational invasion begins when Israel is in a state of unsuspecting false security (Isa 28:14-18; Eze 38:8, 11, 14; 39:26; Dan 11:23-24; 1Thes 5:3) but ends with Gog’s destruction at the Armageddon “great day of God Almighty” (Eze 39:8 with Rev 16:12-19) and Israel’s everlasting salvation (Eze 39:22, 28-29), the only conclusion that fits all the evidence is that this battle comprehends the entire 42 months of the great tribulation. It starts with the shock of an unexpected invasion that violates the illusory presumption of peace and ends with Israel’s post-tribulational regeneration and everlasting salvation.

This is significant because the full cast of nations that are gathered by the seduction of demon spirits to Armageddon (compare Dan 11:40-45 with Rev 16:12), do not join the fray until very late towards the end of the tribulation (compare Dan 11:40-45 with Rev 16:12-17; Eze 39:8). This means Ezekiel’s comprehensive vision of Eze 38 & 39 may include nations that come in at the end and are not necessarily one of the union of ten that strike Israel at the beginning of the tribulation.

Furthermore, since Gog is called a “chief prince” over many nations (Eze 38:2-3; 39:1), this may imply something more than only a human leader. According to Paul, “his coming is after the working of Satan with ALL power, signs, and deceiving wonders (2Thes 2:9). Never before has the world seen anything like this.

The case is too involved to enter upon here, but we believe the “mystery of lawlessness” (2Thes 2:7) that is revealed in the man of lawlessness is the revelation of Satan in the flesh, the antithesis of the mystery of God manifest in the flesh (1Tim 3:16). I mention this because the scripture calls the archangel, Michael, “one of the chief princes (Dan 10:13).

This suggests that “THE chief prince” over the nations of the gentiles (Gen 10) could be Satan himself, cryptically referred to as Gog. Gog would then double as both Satan and the Antichrist because he fulfills the mystery of Satan in the flesh. This understanding explains why this title is again used to apply to Satan’s post-millennial release for the “little season” of futile threat to the everlasting peace of regathered Israel (Rev 20:3, 7-9).

But beyond this general reference to the southward descent of the northern invader, depending on how certain debated passages in Daniel are interpreted, it is possible that the typology of the scripture points us to a much narrower, more specific territory from which the final Antichrist may be expected to rise. The passages in question are Dan 8:8-9 & Dan 11:3-21. These verses specify the territory ruled by Antiochus Epiphanes IV. He was the Greek tyrant who attacked Jerusalem and famously desecrated the temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar and erecting a statue of Zeus in 167 BCE.

Because Antiochus arose out of one of the four primary divisions of Alexander’s kingdom, scholars usually identify him as the “little horn” of Dan 8:9 who also abolished the daily sacrifice in Dan 8:11. But while Antiochus IV was certainly a type of the “coming prince” (Dan 9:26), we will show in what follows why we cannot accept that he was the complete and ultimate fulfillment.

In notable contrast to Antiochus, the coming “little horn” of Dan 7:8 (the final Antichrist) is one who rises up from among ten nations to lead them in a united invasion Israel. The end of the little horn comes, not three years after the abomination of desolation is placed, as in the case of Antiochus’ desecration (Dec 164 to Dec 167), but 3 1/2 years later with the completion of the predestined half week of Dan 7:25; 9:27; 12:7, 11).

Such often neglected distinctions are placed in the text to protect the careful interpreter from a hasty presumption that a near parallel or partial fulfillment in the past has sufficiently satisfied the language of the text. It is certain that Jesus was not satisfied that Antiochus’ desecration sufficiently fulfilled Daniel’s reference to the abomination of desolation. He puts it fully in the future in relation to the unequaled tribulation that ends with nothing short of His return in glory and the resurrection of the righteous (compare Mt 24:15, 21, 29-31 with Dan 12:1-2).

Moreover, so far from being a “little horn” who “becomes strong with a small people” (Dan 11:23), Antiochus rose to power in the largest of the four “notable horns” of Alexander’s divided kingdom (Dan 8:5, 8). The territory of the Seleucid Empire stretched from Antioch (named after his father, Antiochus III) to the Mesopotamian regions of Babylonia and Assyria, all of which had been under Macedonian control after the division of Alexander’s kingdom among his successors (Dan 8:8-9; 11:3-21).

On this basis, it has been long expected that someone would rise up from within that general territory towards the end of Hosea’s 2nd millennial day (Hos 5:15-6:2). For this reason, many were reasonably considering whether Jolani (aka Amed al Sharaa) might be the fulfillment of one who would stand up in the estate of Antiochus IV, the great eschatological prototype of the final AC.

The problem with Jolani’s candidacy for the one who enters into an alliance with Israel (Dan 11:23) is that he did not come into power “peaceably”, nor by deceit and smooth promises, as stated in Dan 11:21, but by force of arms. I’m aware that some translations translate, Dan 11:24 “at a time of peace, or tranquility” but that too fails to fit the conditions by which Assad of Syria was so suddenly replaced.

And yet, never has there been a more credible and promising prospect for the kind of deceptive, false peace that the scripture depicts as necessarily preceding the sudden and unexpected outbreak of the final tribulation as we’re now seeing unfold before our eyes (compare Isa 28:14-18; Jer 30:3-7; Eze 38:8, 11, 14; 39:26; Dan 9:27; 11:24; Mt 24:15-16, 21; 1Thes 5:3; Rev 11:2 with Joel 2:1-3). Ominously, this is all taking place after the greatest upsurge of rabid world antisemitism, not seen since the Hitler time. By any fair reckoning, the stage is being set.

Whether the territory once ruled by Antiochus IV significantly narrows the general area of the AC’s origin will depend on our answer to a very important question debated by scholars. Does the “ vile / despicable person” of Dan 11:21 refer to Antiochus or the future Antichrist, or both? If to Antiochus, this would mean that the willful king who exalts himself over all forms of deity in Dan 11:36-37 is someone else entirely, already nearly 22 centuries removed from Antiochus’ time. You see the puzzle.

The far greater consensus among Daniel scholars is that Dan 11:21 & Dan 11:36 are speaking of two distinct individuals separated by many centuries. This means that both do the same thing, as described in nearly precisely the same words. Both take away the daily sacrifice (regular burn offering) and place the abomination. To reiterate, this would mean that Dan 11:31 (assumed to be past) is a completely different event from Dan 12:11 (assumed to be future).

So, is it only Antiochus, (as a highly descriptive type of the coming Antichrist) who is introduced in Dan 11:21? Or is it the Antichrist himself? All will agree that Antiochus functions as a type, but “if” Dan 11:21 does not introduce the Antichrist, then looking for him to rise somewhere within the estate (general vicinity) of Antiochus IV loses its primary support. It opens the field for him to come from a more expansive area, albeit necessarily to Israel’s north.

Antiochus came into the estate of his deceased brother, Seleucus IV, who succeeded his father, Antiochus III. This becomes significant if Antiochus is a type of the Antichrist, but especially if the person who comes to power in verse 21 is the same person who exalts himself in Dan 11:36-37. I want to show in what follows that there is no exegetical justification to find the break between antiquity and the time of the end between verse Dan 11:35 & Dan 11:36, but much more likely between Dan 11:20 & Dan 11:21.

We begin by pointing out where agreement is almost universal. Due to Paul’s verbatim quotation of Dan 11:36-27 in 2Thes 2:4, few will dispute that Daniel’s willful king is Paul’s man of lawlessness. Nor is there any disagreement that Jesus quotes the language of Dan 11:31 & Dan 12:11 to identify the sign that He expects His disciples to recognize as the event that starts the unequaled tribulation (Dan 11:31; 12:1, 11 with Mt 24:15-16, 21).

But is the abomination of Dan 11:31 the same event as the abomination of Dan 12:11? This is the very question that has divided Daniel scholars. It will decide whether the events spanning from Dan 11:21-35 have relevance for the future.

Though several reputable commentators over the years have offered a compelling defense of the position we take (I have a few in my library), we remain in the comparatively rare minority. This is not the place to recount them all, but there are notable details in Dan 11:21-35 that do not agree with certain aspects of the well documented history of Antiochus Epiphanes IV’s career leading up to his desecration of the temple. We will look at just a couple of examples:

With rare exception, most conservative scholars assume that because Antiochus was such a remarkable type of the coming man of lawlessness that the references to the removal of the sacrifice in Dan 8:11 & Dan 11:31 can only apply to him as the complete and final fulfillment, leaving only Dan 9:27 & Dan 12:11 to have a future fulfillment.

Let us look more closely at what this postulate implies. If Dan 11:31 has in view a different time and event than Dan 12:11, this would mean that mention of the abomination and removal of Tamid (regular burnt offering) of Dan 12:11 is NOT referring back to the familiar event mentioned earlier in Dan 11:31. Instead, it means that Dan 12:11, while a very similar event, is already nearly 22 centuries removed from the abomination of Dan 11:31, despite its being described in so nearly the same words.

These are the very words that Jesus will use to describe the sign that marks the beginning of the final tribulation that will surpass anything in the past or future (Mt 24:15-21). Even His reference to the unequaled time of trouble in Mt 24:21 is a direct quotation of Dan 12:1. Therefore, to NOT expect a future repeat of a very similar act in “Judea”, comparable to Antiochus’ desecration, amounts to a blatant denial of Jesus’ own, manifest understanding.

This is why Jesus sends His disciples to read and understand Daniel’s account of this particular event (Mt 24:15). He knew that by these unmistakable connections the time and nature of this massively transitional event would be recognized by His sheep, visibly, unmistakably, beyond any question (Mt 24:15; 2Thes 2:4). This will be their strategic advantage for the final thrust of the gospel before the end (Mt 24:14).

Should we then accept the verdict of the far greater number of commentators who believe that Dan 11:21-35 should be interpreted to apply to Antiochus, not as an archetypal foreshadowing of that last aggressor, but as completely fulfilled in 167 BCE by his desecration of the temple? This would also mean that Dan 11:32-35 are applied, not to the tribulation of the end, but to the ensuing persecution of Antiochus that ended in the triumph of the Maccabean warriors and rededication of the temple almost exactly three years later in 164 BCE.

While not all agree that 11:21-35 is past history, there is broad consensus that the abomination and removal of the daily sacrifice of Dan 12:11 is the start of the half week of Dan 7:25; 9:27; 11:12:7; Rev 11:2-3; 12:6, 14; 13:5). On this we agree. We do not agree that Dan 11:21-35 can be consigned to the past. This means Dan 11:31 & Dan 12:11 are both equally future. Dan 11:31 was partially prefigured by Antiochus’ desecration, but both 11:31 & 12:11 have primary and ultimate reference to the same event.

So to summarize: Because Paul is so clear in his duplication of the words of Dan 11:36-37 applied to the man of lawlessness in 2Thes 2:4, most scholars locate the gap of centuries between versus 35 & 36. From this point to the end of the book, there is common agreement that the topic is the future Antichrist and the unparalleled tribulation of the final 3 ½ years.

This is not in dispute. Our difference lies with the view that Dan 11:21-35 has been fulfilled by Antiochus IV in the second century BCE. Antiochus was a type and pattern of the one to come but he did not satisfy some of the necessary details of the prophecy, thus demanding a future and more complete fulfillment, arriving at the end that is “determined” (Dan 9:24, 26; 11:36) / “appointed” (Dan 8:19; 11:27, 35).

In several notable particulars, Antiochus does not well enough match the profile that history provides. His rise to power certainly did not begin in the way described. He was certainly no “little horn”, since he never began with a “small people” but inherited directly and at once his father’s and brother’s rule over the greatest of the four “notable horns” (Dan 8:9; 11:5).

To argue for the break of centuries to be located between verses Dan 11:35 & Dan 11:36 would mean that the “willful king” of vs 36 introduces another individual entirely, but the continuity of the preceding succession of pronouns militates against such a conjecture. In all, the cumulative evidence weighs against the view that Dan 11:31 & 12:11 are completely different events, signifying two different ends of two different times, centuries removed, despite being described in by the words in the the same prophecy. How likely? You decide.

The stakes are high in this decision, because “if” commentators are wrong in their consignment of Dan 11:21-35 to antiquity, a substantial number of revealed details about the first half of Daniel’s 70th week risks being robbed from the knowledge and witness of the church. We can hardly begin to estimate how invaluable this knowledge will prove to be in its appointed time.

So much is at stake whether the godly remnant will be able to recognize and benefit from a knowledge of the events that occupy the first half Daniel’s 70th week that run from Dan 11:23-30.

So, we ask, does the “appointed time of the end” in Dan 11:27, 35 refer to a completely different end than the “time of the end” in Dan 12:4, 9, 13? The far greater number of scholars think so. What do you think? Will it matter then? Doesn’t matter now?

Notice too that the reference in Dan 11:27 to “the appointed time of the end” comes before the first mention of the abomination of desolation in Dan 11:31. How then can we say that the same “appointed end” mentioned in Dan 11:35 refers to a different end than described in Dan 12:4, 9-13? The details of the text must take priority whether history confirms a complete fulfillment or only partial fulfillment, designed to function only as a type and pattern of a more complete and comprehensive fulfillment in the future.

As mentioned, many, actually most commentators make “appointed time of the end” in Dan 11:27 & Dan 11:35 to be speaking about the end of the Maccabean struggle over the Seleucid armies of Antiochus IV. According to this interpretation, this is NOT the same “time of the end” referred to in Dan 11:40, 45; 12:4, 8-13. Instead, most commentators treat this undeniable similarity as two distinct ends of two different (albeit very similar) times of assault on Jerusalem, its temple and sacrifice, nearly 22 centuries apart.

The extreme awkwardness of this view can be illustrated by juxtaposing two parallel passages of undeniable similarity, but are they the same? Do they signify the same time? Most say yes. A few say no. You make the call.

Dan 11:35:

“And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.”

Dan 12:9-10:

“And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.”

This alone is enough to cast doubt on the Antiochus interpretation, not that he did not prefigure and typify the coming Antichrist in his attack on the holy covenant centered in Jerusalem, but he falls significantly short in certain particulars that do not match some of the details of Dan 11:21-35. This argues for a fuller, more exact and complete fulfillment of every yet outstanding detail.

Alls to say, if Dan 11:21-35 is wrongly relegated to the past, then the witnessing, prophetic body of Christ risks being robbed of crucial end time information that is intended for their advantage and the greater glory of an infallible scripture that requires that not a single jot or tittle pass unfulfilled.

On the other hand, if we are correct that the AC is introduced in Dan 11:21, we are justified to be looking for one who has or will come to power in an initially small country of modest beginnings somewhere to the north of Israel. This will not be through natural succession, but apparently, seizing upon a momentary vacancy, he snakes his way to the top by “flattery” (slippery fair promises), as implied in Dan 11:21-23. This description stands in notable contrast to the historical account of how Antiochus came to power by wresting the throne from a usurper accused of assassinating his brother, Seleucus IV. Again, there are points of notable variance between the details of the prophecy and the historical record of Antiochus’ accession to the throne.

So, unless we are overlooking something (always a real and present danger), there may yet be a longer wait between what we’re seeing now and the “alliance” of Dan 11:23 that ‘appears’ (?) to be the same time that “he” (i.e., the coming prince of Dan 9:26) “confirms” (makes firm / strengthens) the covenant with the many to begin the final seven (Dan 9:27).

If Dan 11:21-35 is retrieved as yet future, then from the alliance of Dan 11:23 to the abomination of Dan 11:31, we have been given a clear chronological sequence of events that occupy the first half of the week.

Sometime after the alliance of Dan 11:23, but before the abomination of Dan 11:31, the sacrifice (regular burn offering) will be restored. If not already apparent, this will remove all doubt that we have crossed over into the final seven.

But there is more that will confirm that we are in the final seven. “AFTER the league made with him” (11:23), he attacks and overcomes a king to his south (Dan 11:25-27). This conquest of the southern king does not appear to impinge on the security of Israel. The conquered king is not killed but joins his conqueror in a secret plot to destroy the holy covenant at Jerusalem, but the plan comes to nothing because the time is not right (Dan 11:27).

These are things those living at that time will see. From this, they will be able to anticipate what comes next, play by play.

Manifestly, the alliance of Dan 11:23 is made with Israel in particular, but since Dan 9:27 says he confirms the covenant “with many”, it seems possible, I think probable, that the AC will be only one among many other nations that are united in common consent to recognize (confirm) Israel’s right, not only to a portion of their promised Land, but also their return to the temple service in Jerusalem as commanded in the law.

This is why the covenant that is confirmed by political expedience while fiercely hated by the AC is called “the holy covenant” (Dan 11:28, 30). It is this recognition of the “holy covenant” in particular either by the AC alone, or more likely an international cast of several nations that starts the seven.

So is the league / alliance of Dan 11:23 the same event described in Dan 9:27? It appears likely, but can’t say with final certainty. If the alliance and the confirming of the covenant are part of a single event, then we can see a certain sequence of specific events that will precede the abomination.

After the alliance of Dan 11:23, the Antichrist makes two distinct southward advances before a third whereupon he invades the Land and places the abomination of desolation (Dan 11:31).

The first is the successful conquest of a nation to his south that increases his power base (Dan 11:25-28). The second southward move is intercepted and repulsed by the “ships of Chittim” (Kittim in some translations). This momentary frustration fills him with rage against the holy covenant centered in Jerusalem (Dan 11:30).

It is inviting to speculate that it is just here that he secretly unites the ten nations that have waited for an opportunity to destroy the peace and recapture Jerusalem for the Caliphate. The check and restraint of the guardian naval power stationed in the Mediterranean is short-lived, as the now fully united ten nation confederacy floods the Land with overwhelming force (Isa 28:2, 15; 59:19; Dan 9:26, 11:22; Eze 38:9, 16; Rev 12:15-16), whereupon he captures Jerusalem (Zech 14:2), enters and defiles the “holy place” by taking away the regular burn offering and placing the abomination of desolation, as he exalts himself “above all that is called God or that is worshipped” (Dan 11:31; 36-37; Mt 24:15; 2Thes 2:4) and begins 3 1/2 years of treading down the holy city (Isa 28:18; 63:18; Mic 5:5; Dan 8:13; ; Lk 21:24; Rev 11:2).

Now the question: Why and how would Israel in the modern context ever so completely relax their guard as to be taken as much by surprise as they were on Oct 7? How does Israel come to such a presumption of peace as described in Isa 28:14-18; Eze 38:8, 11, 14; 39:26; 1Thes 5:3?

I would propose that this comes, not only when peace is initially declared and internationally imposed upon dissenters, but it comes with the glaze of false security that will steal over the minds of the population when the ships of Kittim (US? NATO?) turn back the threat of the AC’s second southward advance. This is when the boast of peace and safety will soar (Amos 9:9-10; Isa 28:14-18; 1Thes 5:3).

I’ve always speculated that the ill-fated declaration of 1Thes 5:3 has most particularly to do with what Israel will feel after the ships of Chittim have successfully checked the second southward advance of the northern king. After such a show of seemingly impregnable protection, the peace will ‘seem’ invincible.

Now ask this question: How formidable would the naval power have to be that can halt and turn back the man who in just the next verse (Dan 11:30-31) will rally and return, this time with a confederacy of ten nations united in their commitment to overwhelm and destroy, not only unsuspecting Israel, but the west may very well find itself suddenly incapacitated, unable to mount a successful resistance against the Antichrist’s all prevailing military supremacy? (Dan 11:31with Rev 13:4).

Could this happen in conjunction with an unexpected nuclear strike on the west? That’s where I see the cumulative evidence pointing.

There will be gaps in our knowledge and doubtless surprises, as more becomes un-sealed as the day approaches, but who will not consider that the unprecedented alignment of foretold events happening right before our eyes represent giant steps that perfectly align with what prophecy gives us to expect?

A fragile peace appears to be in the making, potentially unprecedented and against all odds only two years ago. When consolidated and set in place, a growing sense of security will doubtless follow. At length, the growing presumption of lasting security will become the ill-fated boast of Isa 28:15, 18; 1Thes 5:3. That boast is against the warning that prophetic witnesses will be sounding throughout the nations (Ps 19:4).

The warning will be generally dismissed at first, it will continue to speak to Israel during the time of their wilderness flight from the face of the Antichrist (Isa 28:16-19; Dan 11:32-33; 12:3; Rev 12:6, 7-14). The Antichrist’s pursuit of Jewish blood must continue until the light of the gospel breaks through the veil, as the penitent Jewish survivors of the tribulation see the one whom the nation pierced coming in the clouds of divine glory (Zech 12:10; Mt 24:30; 26:64; 1Thes 4:17; Rev 1:7). It is no accident that our president confidently announced, “eternal peace in the Mideast!”.

That declaration, while the equivalent of Jeremiah’s, “Peace, peace!” When there is no peace (Jer 6:14; 8:11), is no less a piece of sovereign divine providence. Such an extravagant expression of optimism reveals the very self-reliant humanism that boasts of accomplishing by natural means what God has reserved to Himself alone, namely, “eternal peace in the Mideast” by the long-awaited advent of the Prince of Peace. “Not by might nor by power but by My Spirit says the Lord!”

So let us guard against the tendency to assume that the long-awaited peace will necessarily include the Antichrist’s confirmation of the covenant that starts the last seven. It may but it may not.

Recognition of the futurity of Dan 11:21-35 leads us to consider that the covenant of Dan 9:27 may be more than a presumed “peace treaty” with the Antichrist. It is more likely his confirmation (strengthening / support / endorsement) of the “holy covenant” of Dan 11:22, 28, 30, 32.

This has implications for the revival of the ancient sacrifice and restoration of the “holy place” in the temple at Jerusalem (Mt 24:15; 2Thes 2:4). Hence, we must be careful and cautious to distinguish things that are not the same, lest we misidentify and thus mislead.

To be sure, at some point, what could hardly be imagined only two years ago, will exist. There will be a disarming illusion of peace, doubtless protected by one or more of the great world powers.

In its early stages, this remarkable achievement may not immediately include the AC’s “confirmation” (recognition) of the covenant of Dan 9:27, but it will be the framework that makes provision for it.

Why this caution? According to Dan 9:4; 11:22, 28, 30, 32, the covenant is not merely a peace pact, as many have perhaps too hastily assumed. In all other uses of the word throughout the book of Daniel, the covenant is God’s covenant with Israel. So if the covenant of Dan 9:27 signifies nothing more than a peace pact, this one verse would be the only exception. However, if the covenant of Dan 9:27 is the same as THE “holy covenant” of Dan 11:28, 30, a whole new vista comes into consideration.

This would mean that the AC, with “many” others, will be confirming the very covenant that has come down through Abraham’s promise of the Land, through Moses’ institutions of temple service, and through David’s acquisition of the elect city of Jerusalem. If this is the “covenant” that the AC confirms to begin the final 7 [years], then it is more than a peace pact with the AC.

Yes, a preceding peace agreement will certainly need to be in place for the “holy covenant” to be confirmed, whether as part of the initial peace plan or a later event made possible by the peace plan. In other words, it is at least possible that the covenant (assuming it is the same as the “holy covenant” of Dan 9:4; 11:22, 28, 30, 32), may not be confirmed at the same moment the peace is first initiated. It remains to be seen.

In this case, it is NOT the peace agreement that starts the seven years but the confirming of the covenant, even the covenant that Dan 11:28, 30 calls the “holy covenant”. Although inextricably related, the peace plan that may soon be implemented may not immediately include the confirmation of the “holy covenant”.

It is possible the peace plan may come into play and be agreed on by the major parties and exist for some time before the AC confirms the holy covenant. It is also possible that the he is only one of “many” nations that will unite to acknowledge, not only Israel’s right to exist, but their right to temple access to sacrifice again.

As remote as such an eventuality may seem at the moment, it MUST come about, since for the sacrifice to be stopped, it must first be started, and it must conform to the pattern of the past in the passages where Antiochus serves as an importantly instructive type.

So we must guard the delicate balance between watchful vigilance and hasty presumption, but we must also be prepared in the scriptures to “instruct many”, not only in the tribulation but even now. We need to show others how to show others how the signs that confirm certainty can be recognized with certainty.

In short, God doesn’t waste ink! These things were revealed to be unsealed in their appointed time, that the one who reads may run (Dan 12:3 with Hab 2:2-3).

There may be much that remains unclear, but sufficient clarity is given that many of the false alarms of prophetic speculation can be safely ruled out as incongruent with the scripture.

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Prov 13:12). Great confusion threatens where these distinctions are not taken into account and carefully considered.

In His precious service, Reggie

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The post Caution Concerning Important Distinctions that Help Avoid Misleading False Alarms appeared first on Mystery of Israel.

It is generally well known that earliest Jewish and Christian eschatology (study of the future) shared in common the view that God’s final defeat of the demonic powers of this age would come only after a brief period of unequaled great tribulation. In Judaism this period is typically called ‘the birth pangs of Messiah’. The tribulation was expected to end with the apocalyptic ‘day of the Lord’, which would realize the end of exile with the deliverance of besieged Israel, and the enthronement of Messiah. The Christian gospel is understood as ‘the revelation of the mystery’ contained in the prophetic writings that Messiah would come twice (Ro 16:25-26; 1Pet 1:10-12), a first time to suffer making atonement, and a second to restore all things (Acts 3:18-21). The redemption would be accomplished in two stages rather than one as in Judaism. In both views, the final redemption comes at a time of unparalleled distress and desolation called ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble’. The common view was that the events that distinguish and define Jacob’s trouble would culminate in the final deliverance of Israel at the climactic ‘day of the Lord’.

Rightly considered, few themes of scripture are more invested with greater divine significance than the coming time of Jacob’s trouble, also called ‘Zion’s travail’ (Mic 5:3; Isa 13:8; 66:8), also ‘the tribulation, the great one’ (Jer 30:7; cf. Dn 12:1; Mt 24:21; Rev 7:14). Though brief in duration, it holds the key to the final defeat of Satan with the restoration of Israel, and the bringing in of the age of righteousness (Rev 12:6-14). It is therefore of utmost importance that the church as God’s prophetic voice of witness among the nations rightly understands what God has invested in this short time and why. Because to understand Jacob’s trouble, not only in fact but in principle, is also to observe a pattern in all of God’s redemptive ways (Acts 14:22). For this cause, we are interested in more than the mere recognition of a coming time of unprecedented trouble; we want to understand its place and purpose in the larger intention of God, since through it, all the covenant promises of God will be publicly vindicated in the sight of all nations.

Jacob’s trouble is the point where all roads meet. It is the transition between the two ages. It signals the final defeat of the rebellious powers that hold this age in bondage and that resist the final triumph of the kingdom of God. Their ultimate dethronement in history and the principle by which their power is broken in the personal life of the child of God is much better understood in the light of God’s prophetic purpose in history, particularly as it concerns this ultimately transitional period.

In the necessarily brief introduction that follows, we want to simply open for further study and discussion some of the many questions that arise when considering the time, circumstance, and purpose of Jacob’s trouble and its relation to Israel and the church. We also want to draw particular attention to what is at stake in deciding between competing interpretations that have turned the time and nature of the last tribulation into a matter of greatest controversy and heated dispute. All of which is not the least surprising if we take seriously what this particular period of time threatens for the kingdom of darkness. Scripture makes plain that Satan’s final eviction, exposure, and defeat is bound up with the last 3 ½ years, which is the time that the prophets Daniel and John give as the duration of the tribulation’ (compare Dn 7:25; 9:27; 12:7, 11 with Rev 11:2-3; 12:6-14, 13:5).

It is furthermore important for the church to understand how and why Satan’s overthrow is bound up with the fulfillment of a well defined set of events and conditions that though not without parallel, are never realized so particularly and intensely as during the time of Jacob’s trouble. All of which is designed to crowd God’s elect into a transitional crisis that ends in glorious revelation and restoration. The revelation that quickens the dead and brings salvation comes at the point of utter weakness and destitution (Jonah 2:1). Through the final crisis of Jacob’s trouble, the pride of self-sufficiency is fatally shattered, and with the revelation that comes at the end of strength comes also the regeneration (Lev 26:19; Deut 32:36; Ps 102:13-17; Dn 12:7). This is the pattern for all salvation. The way of faith is the way of weakness and broken humble dependency on the Word of God.

Significantly, the same process that ends with the salvation of ‘the preserved of Israel’ accomplishes in the meantime the further refinement of those that are the appointed witnesses of the most prolific and public fulfillment of prophecy that the world has ever known. These are called in Hebrew ‘the Maskilim’. “Those that ‘understand’ among the people shall instruct many … those that are ‘wise’ shall turn many to righteousness” (see Dn 11:32-35; 12:3, 10). The term is in particular reference to those that ‘understand’ Daniel’s sealed vision (12:4, 8-10).

It should not fail our notice that the time that Daniel’s sealed vision is opened to the ‘wise’ is also the time of the greatest harvest of world evangelism. The reference in Revelation to the countless number that comes “out of great tribulation” (Rev 7:14) does not simply refer to the common experience of all saints. The double definite article in Greek suggests not simply tribulation in general, but more specifically, “the tribulation, the great one.”

It is well known that the witness of the apostolic church was carried out with great urgency under the shadow of an imminent destruction of Jerusalem as prophesied by Jesus. Others also expected the great tribulation to begin in connection with the Antichrist invasion of Jerusalem. The desert ascetics of Qumran were among the apocalyptic sects within Judaism that were expecting the tribulation judgments that would drive Israel again into the wilderness. This expectation was based on a number of prophecies, but Daniel’s in particular is the background of Jesus’ warning to flee into the wilderness. Physical survival will depend on speedy escape from Judea from the time that the Antichrist places the desecrating sacrilege in the holy place at Jerusalem (Dn 11:31-36 with Mt 24:15-21; 2Thes 2:4; Rev 11:2).

Prominent throughout the prophecies of exile and return is the theme of a new exodus.¹ In the perspective of the prophets, the day of deliverance comes only after Israel has been brought once more into the wilderness for a final time of testing and divine pleading as at the first (Ezk 20:34-37; Jer 31:2; Hos 2:14-15). This raises the question of the time of fulfillment. The context is decisive; it is the critical point of transition that ends with final salvation and return to the Land. Israel’s flight into the wilderness is made expedient by the violence of Antichrist; the remnant flee from ‘the face of the destroyer’ (Isa 16:1-5; Jer 4:7; Ezk 35:5,12; 36:2-5; 38:17; Obad 10-14; Mic 2:12; Mt 24:16-21; Rev 11:2; 12:6). Some of the prophecies depicting the final return represent the remnant as returning not only from many nations but also from desert locations from neighboring regions outside the Land (Isa 16:4; Isa 26:19; 27:12-13; 42:11; Ezk 20:35; Dn 11:43).²

It is not hard to understand why many in first century Israel would share this perspective, because this is the meaning that one would naturally attach to a literal reading of the prophets. Hence, it was fully expected that the final redemption cannot come until after the nation has passed through its darkest hour of extremity and affliction, and this was expected to entail another return to wilderness conditions, as Jerusalem is ‘trodden down’, albeit briefly, by the Gentiles (Isa 28:18; 63:18; Dn 8:13; Lk 21:24; Rev 11:2). The flight is made expedient by the firmly expected multinational assault led by the Antichrist against the ‘holy covenant’ (Dn 9:27; 11:21-31; 12:11; Joel 3:2; Zech 12:2-3).

In this certainty, Paul speaks of his own time as “the present distress” (1Cor 7:26). This sense of urgency has been lost to the church in proportion to its loss of the apocalyptic perspective that characterized the apostolic period. Paul’s expectation would soon be vindicated by history, but the full end of prophetic hope passed unrealized. Jesus did not return in relation to Jerusalem’s destruction as expected. Did prophecy fail? Was the fulfillment deferred to the future? Or, is it a question of spiritual versus literal interpretation?³

Scholars make a case that the unexpected ‘delay of the parousia’ (Greek for coming or presence) created a crisis of faith in the early church. The problem of apparent delay is not unique to the New Testament. The Jews returning from Babylon surely expected the immediate fulfillment of the glorious events depicted in the prophecies of ‘the return’ as apparently accompanying the end of exile.

Taken alone, many of the prophecies of return do indeed give the appearance that the final redemption happens in immediate connection with the return from Babylon. There is no clear distinction; they appear as one event. Thus, it is natural that the Jews returning from Babylon would have expected the millennial splendors typically featured in connection with the prophecies of return to immediately attend their arduous trek back to the Land. Instead, they met with enemy opposition and the disappointment of delay and hope deferred (Ezra 3:12-13). The hard fought gains of those early days were at best a “day of small things” (Zech 4:10).

Daniel’s prophecy would address this crisis of delay by his further revelation that the final redemption would not quickly follow the first return. Rather, an additional seventy sevens are ‘determined’ (9:24). With Jeremiah’s prophecy of the seventy years in mind (Jer 29:10-30:7), Daniel sees ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble’ as the last 3 ½ years terminating in Israel’s national deliverance and the resurrection and reward of the righteous. Jacob’s trouble is the last half of the last week of Daniel’s seventy weeks of years (compare 7:25; Dn 9:24-27; 11:31-45; 12:1, 7, 11).⁴

The prophets living after the exile would see the return from Babylon as only a first installment (first-fruits) of a much greater world wide return that waits the still future day of the Lord (Zech 8:8; 10:6-10). Isaiah had said that the exiles would be gathered ‘a second time’ (Isa 11:11). This return must be distinguished from any previous return in that it is both universal and complete. After the final deliverance of the day of the Lord, all return; not one is left behind (Deut 30:4; Isa 11:11-16; 27:12-13; 43:6-7; esp. Ezk 39:28; Amos 9:9; Zech 10:8-9). This means that the present return must be regarded as only a preliminary first stage of a further gathering that is much more comprehensive and complete. Only such a universal and complete return can fulfill all the details of the return that Isaiah calls ‘the second’. The order of the return can be easily confused if we fail to recognize the distinction between the age-long Diaspora (which was unknown), and the very brief exile of the unequaled tribulation of the last 3 ½ years (which was well known).⁵

Although the prophets recognize a final return that comes with the day of the Lord at the end of the tribulation, it is important to note that there was no explicit indication that the tribulation would be postponed beyond the first century. Daniel’s seventy sevens (490 years) would naturally be expected to terminate within the first century. While many looked for a crisis of national devastation that would send Israel again into the wilderness in flight from Antichrist violence, this expectation carried no thought of another age-long dispersion that would require yet another preliminary return in national unbelief in order to prepare the stage again for a still future tribulation.

Although hinted in a few scattered prophecies,⁶ the extent of the Roman exile was unknown. It belongs to a hidden interval that forms part of the mystery of Messiah’s twofold advent. As much as Christ’s return is “immediately AFTER the tribulation” (Mt 24:29), an interval of indefinite duration must be observed to exist between the sixty ninth and the seventieth week of years. This is evident because the sixty ninth seven terminates in the messianic atonement (Dn 9:26), whereas the seventieth week (last seven years) is clearly occupied with the eschatological Antichrist and the final 3 ½ years of unequaled tribulation (8:11; 9:27; 11:31-36; 12:11; Mt 24:15-21; 2Thes 2:4). Therefore, it follows that the seventieth week could NOT have followed the sixty ninth in unbroken succession. This can only mean that a hidden interim exists between the sixty ninth and seventieth seven. All of which belongs to the greater mystery of the two advents of Christ (Rev 10:7).

The Roman destruction failed to bring about the expected end. This and the prolonged absence of a significant Jewish presence in the Land seemed for centuries to lend support to the view that the tribulation is past, or that the fulfillment of prophecy does not require a Jewish national existence. Still, it is well documented that many throughout history have stood, often quite alone, in their insistence that there must be a preliminary return of Jews to the land in unbelief in order for the events of the great tribulation to be fulfilled in a way that is consistent with the language and intention of the prophets. Such an insistence seems now much closer to vindication, as the amazing reappearance of the nation of the Jews and the ripening alignment of the foretold preconditions cannot be too greatly urged on the attention of the church and the world.

So what of the present return? Certainly a preliminary gathering to the Land is requisite towards establishing the conditions necessary to the literal fulfillment of prophecy. This alone is sufficient to invest the modern miracle of Jewish survival and national repatriation with the greatest prophetic significance. However, the end is not yet. ALL of the prophecies describing the events of the last days depict the nation in unbelief, abiding still under the judgment of a yet unfulfilled covenant. One of the primary purposes for the severities of Jacob’s trouble is to bring Israel back under ‘the bond of the covenant’ (Ezk 20:37; see also Deut 32:36 with Dn 12:7).

While many prophecies depict Israel as situated in the Land before the tribulation, still in unbelief and under the abiding threat of continued covenant discipline, there are a few remarkable passages that show that the judgments of the last tribulation break forth on a people that have only recently returned to the Land (Jer 30:3-7; Ezk 22:17-22; 38:8; Zeph 2:1-2; Joel 3:1-2). The language suggests that the holy places have been only lately recovered into Jewish possession when the City is suddenly invaded and ‘trodden down’ by the Gentiles (Isa 63:18; 64:10-11; Dn 8:13; 11:23 with Isa 28:15-18; also Lk 21:24 with Rev 11:2).

Since there are certain close and subtle distinctions that are sometimes difficult to recognize in the order and stages of Jewish return, it is easy to succumb to the error that was embraced by the early defenders of Jerusalem, namely, ‘the inviolability of Zion’. This is the view that the city of Jerusalem will ‘never again’ be successfully taken by an enemy. It is essentially the view that many take today. With the modern miracle of renewed nationhood and the marvelous success of Israel’s early wars, some see the future of the nation as essentially secure. Advocates of this view grant that Israel may indeed by threatened and even buffeted by implacable enemies, but God will be her defense, and so nothing of the scale and magnitude of the unequaled tribulation is to be expected. Recently, the view has been advanced that Jeremiah’s prophecy of Jacob’s trouble has already been fulfilled by the Holocaust of Nazis Europe. This view has met with wide international acceptance and has gained great currency among the messianic believers that live in Israel today. But the tribulation depicted in prophecy begins not in Europe but in Jerusalem (Dn 11:31; Mt 24:15-21). The prospect is almost too painful to consider, but as certainly as the tribulation is future, Jerusalem must again fall under Gentile control (Dn 11:45; Mt 24:15-21; esp. Rev 11:2).⁷

It is beyond the purview of this introduction, but the approach of the great tribulation that begins in Jerusalem is marked by definite signal events (Isa 28:15-18; Dn 11:23-31; 12:11). These will be recognized by those that have understanding (Dn 11:32-35; 12:3, 10). Jesus enjoins the reader of Daniel’s prophecy to ‘understand’ the critical importance of the abomination of desolation as signaling the start of the great tribulation (Mt 24:15-21). Jewish survival depends on this critical ‘understanding’, as this event signals the urgency of flight out of Judea into the neighboring wilderness (Mt 24:16; Rev 12:6, 14).

There must be no mistake; the scripture makes it clear that Israel’s last trouble eclipses any former tribulation in severity, scale, and scope, as it extends even to the devastation of nature (Mt 24:22). It begins in Jerusalem with the abomination of desolation, proceeds for 3 ½ years according to the well defined events outlined in Daniel’s prophecy, and ends with nothing short of Christ’s return and the resurrection and reward of the righteous (compare esp. Dn 12:1-3, 13 with Mt 24:21-29). Therefore, any other tribulation of past history that doesn’t answer to these specific criteria cannot be “Jacob’s trouble”.

Nor can any earlier return guarantee security in the Land apart from the everlasting righteousness of the final redemption. Only a righteousness that is forever can guarantee the everlasting continuance of covenant promise. Any security that is not based on this eternal righteousness is at best temporary and at worst ultimately deceptive (Isa 28:15-18; Ezk 38:8, 11, 14; 1Thes 5:3). Therefore, any earlier return remains precarious, as Jewish residence within the Land grants no immunity from the wrath of the covenant (Lev 26:25; Isa 10:6; Lk 21:23), and it is clear that the discipline of the covenant will include another last, albeit brief, expulsion and flight into a renewed wilderness experience of divine pleading (Ezk 20:35-37; Mt 24:16; Rev 12:14).

The oracle concerning the time of Jacob’s trouble follows Jeremiah’s earlier prophecy that the Jews would return after seventy years in Babylon (Jer 29:10-14).⁸ Many of the prophecies of return that appear in the earlier prophets are often represented in terms of millennial peace and righteousness. However, when Jeremiah looks for the peace that typically appears in connection with earlier prophecies of return, he is astonished to see instead the staggering vision of Israel’s most incomparable national disaster. “For thus says the Lord: We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask now, and see, whether a man is ever in labor with child? So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor, and all faces turned pale? 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 30:5-7). The eschatological tribulation is not without precedent or analogy in the earlier prophets. Jeremiah’s prophecy builds on the earlier prophecy of Moses (Deut 4:30; 30:1-10; 31:29) and the theme of Zion’s travail appears also in Isaiah, Micah, and others.

Daniel does not specifically refer to another return or mention the day of the Lord, but his revelation of an additional seventy sevens of years served to explain the ‘already and the not yet’ of much of Old Testament prophecy. Daniel’s apocalyptic form of prophecy is primarily occupied with the mystery of iniquity that must precede the final redemption. The six stated goals of the final redemption are realized according to a predestined chronology of events that accomplishes the final conquest of evil and the bringing in of the ‘everlasting righteousness’ of covenant promise (9:24 with Jer 31:34; 32:40).

According to the logic of the covenant, the prophets understood that there can be no guaranteed continuance in the Land as long as the larger part of the nation is prone to backslide. The presence of a righteous remnant might forestall but never finally prevent the judgment of exile. Thus, the only permanent solution for Israel’s intractable tendency to backslide is the bringing in of an ‘everlasting righteousness’ (Isa 45:17; Jer 32:40; Dn 9:24). This, since only an enduring righteousness, extending not only to a mere remnant, but to ‘all Israel’ without the exception (Isa 4:3; 54:13; 59:21; 60:21; Jer 31:34; Ro 11:25-27) can make the promise eternally secure from the threat of further judgment through the jeopardy of covenant failure (Isa 45:17, 25; 54:17; Jer 23:5; 32:40; Dn 9:24).⁹

The collective regeneration of the surviving remnant is represented by the prophet Isaiah as the miraculous birth of a nation, “in one day … at once” (Isa 66:8; Ezk 39:22; Zech 3:9). Deeply sifted by the events of Jacob’s trouble (Deut 32:36; Dn 12:7; Amos 9:9), the ‘escaped of Israel’ are saved suddenly and at once by the transforming revelation of Christ at the day of the Lord in remarkable analogy to Paul’s experience on the Damascus road. The day of revelation and regeneration of ‘all Israel’ is also the day that ends the ‘times of the Gentiles’, as the dominion of the Gentile superpowers that have so long stood astride over the grave of captive Israel is forever broken. Satan is bound and the millennium dawns by the transforming power of the day of the Lord, which Christians know as the revelation of Jesus. For Israel it will be the revelation of Joseph to His brethren (Mic 5:3; Zech 12:10; Mt 23:39).

Therefore, so far from presenting ‘a problem for faith’, the mysterious postponement of certain features of the return prophecies and the delay of the final redemption becomes instead ‘an encouragement to faith’, when seen in the light of the apocalyptic mystery of the gospel. In a planned article, I hope to show that the apparent delay and age-long deferment of certain prophecies actually forms the structure for the apocalyptic mystery of God (Rev 10:7). The so-called ‘gap’, so smugly scorned by some interpreters, actually forms a glorious and supernatural framework for the mystery of Christ’s two advents, and accounts for the mysterious interim that must be seen to exist between many prophecies that depict Israel’s return from Babylon in terms of the final redemption. Failure to recognize the mystery of a divinely intended parenthesis has been the cause of much misinterpretation and unwarranted spiritualization. It is often invoked as evidence of failed prophecy. I call it the ‘glory of the gap’, because this characteristic of prophecy has been divinely employed to hide the glories of God’s hidden counsel from the proud wisdom of this age (Mt 11:25; 1Cor 1:9; 2:7-8), while at the same time demonstrating that all was foretold (Mk 13:23; Acts 26:22), and all provably contained in the prophetic writings, albeit in a mystery (Ro 16:25-26; 1Pet 1:10-12).

True to the prophecy that Jesus gave His disciples on the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem would indeed be destroyed within the space of a generation. However, the age did not end as expected with the return of Christ to raise the righteous and to restore the surviving remnant of Israel at the end of the great tribulation. Because of this apparent failure, the evidence shows that towards the end of the second century many began to re-interpret prophecy as never intending a literal fulfillment, applying the greater balance of prophecy to the church as the new spiritual Zion. Those objecting to this practice call this approach ‘replacement theology’. They see it not only as a flagrant violation of the language and intent of the prophets, but potentially nurturing of a triumphal attitude of presumption that effectively displaces the covenant promise that Paul argues is not fulfilled apart from the eschatological ‘re-engraftment’ of the ‘the natural branches’.

Many that have adopted the so-called ‘spiritualizing’ approach to prophecy over the centuries have doubtless seen it as the only viable alternative to the apparent non fulfillment of the prophecies that seemed to fail of a literal fulfillment. However, we have come full circle! For the first time in nearly two millennia since the Roman period, the church is once more living under the shadow of an impending world conflict over the so-called “Jewish problem’, as Jerusalem is made once more an international “cup of trembling” (Zech 12:2-3), and all nations are plunged into what the Isaiah calls “the controversy of Zion” (Isa 34:8). Through an amazing providence that includes the Islamic fixation with Jerusalem based on a 7th century myth,¹⁰ modern events continue to move us in the direction of the early church’s fervent expectation of an imminent end that comes by an international controversy that rages over Jerusalem. But unlike the early church, the modern church is largely out of touch with the apocalyptic perspective that animated the first Christians. Moreover, there is the modern problem of competing interpretations that greatly obscure the issues and rob the church of vital certainty.

It is important to consider that the far greater part of world wide Christendom supposes that Jacob’s trouble was fulfilled during the Babylonian captivity, or else it is believed that the time of unequaled tribulation prophesied by Jesus was fulfilled by the events of 70AD when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. That is the consensus report of most of the historic churches. The exception is another sizeable group within evangelicalism that looks for a future tribulation in relation to national Israel, but sees itself as safely removed from the scene by way of a pre-tribulation rapture. These two dominant views, held by the far greater number of Christians throughout the world, have something significantly in common. BOTH effectively remove the tribulation from any vital concern for the church. The reader is urged to seriously contemplate and review the implications if neither of these suspiciously convenient interpretations happens to be true. It will not be the first time that God has hidden His intention so that the wisdom of this age would be made to stumble. So the issue is one of greatest urgency.

The post The Approaching Time of Jacob’s Trouble appeared first on Mystery of Israel.

Luke 21:34-35

And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

Matthew 24:38-39

For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And KNEW NOT until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Matthew 24:43

But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the THIEF would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

2 Peter 3:10, 12

But the day of the Lord will come as a THIEF in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up … Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God , wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

Revelation 16:12-17

And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.

Ezekiel 39:8

Behold, it is come, and IT IS DONE, saith the Lord GOD; THIS IS THE DAY whereof I have spoken.

Note that the 7th trumpet is immediately followed by the same phenomena that follows the 7h bowl.

Revelation 11:19

And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

Revelation 16:17-1

And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, IT IS DONE. 18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

This is because both the 7th trumpet and the 7th bowl arrive at the same place, namely, the thief-like coming of the “great day of God Almighty.”

Joel 3:1-3, 13-16

For, behold, in those days, and in that time,
when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 I will also gather all nations,
and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat,
and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel,
whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land …
13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision:
for the day of the LORD is NEAR in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened,
and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion,
and utter his voice from Jerusalem;
and the heavens and the earth shall shake:
but the LORD will be the hope of his people,
and the strength of the children of Israel. Joel 3:13-16

Zephaniah 3:8

8 Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD,
until the day that I rise up to the prey:
for my determination is to gather the nations,
that I may assemble the kingdoms,
to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger:
for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.

Joel 1:15

15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand,
and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

Joel 2:1

Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain:
let all the inhabitants of the land tremble:
for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is NEAR at hand;

Zephaniah 1:7, 14

7 Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD:
for the day of the LORD is at hand:
for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice,
he hath bid his guests.
14 The great day of the LORD is NEAR,
it is NEAR, and hasteth greatly,
even the voice of the day of the LORD:

Conclusion: For Peter and John, the thief-like Day of the Lord is synonymous with the DAY OF GOD (2Pet 3:10, 12), also called, “the GREAT DAY OF GOD ALMIGHTY” in Rev 16:12-17). The DOL is NOT immediately imminent until the nations are being gathered together for the post-Armageddon arrival of Jesus (Rev 16:12-17; 19:). Even as late as the sixth bowl, Jesus announces that His THIEF-LIKE coming is yet future (Rev 16:15), clearly showing that His return is synonymous with the “great day of God Almighty”, which “day of God” Peter equates with the thief-like DOL (2Pet 3:10,12; Rev 16:14-17; Eze 38:9).

Note that the gathering of nations here is importantly distinguished from the earlier mid-week storming of the Land by the AC and his ten nation coalition. In contrast, this is the Armageddon gathering of the nations at the very end. A comparison of Dan 11:40-45 with Rev 16:12-17 will show that very late towards the end of the tribulation, the Antichrist, (who is now situated “between the seas and the glorious holy mountain”) is being rushed upon by an omni-directional convergence of world powers.

This gathering does not take place until AFTER the sixth bowl of wrath has been poured out. This brings us to the very end of the tribulation, and still, the DOL is only NEAR. It is not yet HERE. Furthermore, we see that both Jesus and Peter, citing Joel, show that the stellar darkness comes IMMEDIATELY AFTER the tribulation  of those days, but BEFORE the DOL (Joel 2:30-31; 3:14-16; Mt 24:29; Acts 2:20).

Therefore, the thief-like day of the Lord is NOT an imminent, un-signaled event. Paul is very clear that the DOL cannot begin until AFTER the Antichrist has first been revealed, and until AFTER many are saying peace and safety (1Thes 5:5; 2Thes 2:3), just as Peter is very clear that the DOL does not come until AFTER the darkening of the heavenly bodies (Acts 2:20), just as Jesus, also quoting Joel, will put His return “immediately AFTER” the same stellar darkness (Mt 24:29-31), and, as the NT writers will repeatedly identify “that day” as synonymous with the Lord’s return. It should be beyond reasonable dispute that the DOL does not come before but follows the gathering of the multi-national armies of the earth to Armageddon. This is plainly AFTER the darkening of the celestial bodies. Therefore, the DOL is NOT an imminent potential as popularly taught. It is preceded by signs that will be unmistakable to the believer but completely dismissed and ignored by the unsuspecting world until that day comes upon them as a thief.

Conclusion: It is NOT an un-signaled, pretribulation rapture that comes as a thief; it is the POST-tribulational DOL that comes as a THIEF, not on the believing Bride of Christ, but on the unsuspecting world of the ungodly.

In order to protect the doctrine of imminence, (i.e., that Christ can come any moment to rapture the church, without forewarning of any specific sign), it is crucial to the defense of pretribulationism that the DOL be extended to include the whole of Daniel’s 70th week in its entirety. For this reason, later dispensationalists corrected the view of earlier pre-trib scholars who originally placed the start of the DOL after the tribulation.

This correction was seen as necessary because the 70th week is marked by definite, recognizable signs that must happen first (Joel 3:2, 13-15; Zeph 3:8; Mal 4:5; Acts 2:19-20; 1Thes 5:3; 2Thes 2:3; Rev 16:12-17). But Paul had warned the Thessalonians to “watch and be sober”, lest they too should be overtaken by the thief-like arrival of the DOL (1Thes 5:2-4, 6; 2Thes 2:3-4).

The obvious presence of signs marking the onset of the 70th week, together with Paul’s warning to the Thessalonians to watch and be sober against the danger of unpreparedness, moved later pretrib scholars to relocate the DOL from the end of the tribulation to the start of the seven years. From this time forward, the DOL was assumed to start with the rapture.

This was the standard view until the 1973 publication of Robert H. Gundry’s, “The Church and the Tribulation”. To the chagrin of academic dispensational pretribulationism, Gundry pointed out that the DOL could not immediately start with an any moment, un-signaled rapture, because Paul had clearly said the DOL could not begin until AFTER the man of lawlessness had been revealed FIRST (2Thes 2:3). It was a very simple observation, but due to Gundry’s high academic standing, he captured the attention of the scholarly community debating the rapture question in the seminaries. The academic journals were all abuzz with the newly considered difficulty. What to do? How to answer?

An emergency solution was proposed to which most pretribulationsists today agree. The suggested answer to this dilemma was to argue that a clearer distinction should be made between the imminent rapture and the non-imminent, obviously pre-signaled DOL. If the imminent, un-signaled, any moment rapture does not happen at the same time of the DOL, (as in the post-trib view of the rapture), Gundry’s argument that the rapture can no longer be held to start the DOL was now accepted as beyond reasonable dispute.

For those careful to defend the imminence of the rapture, it was clear that the DOL should be moved once more, this time somewhere AFTER the prior revelation of the man of lawlessness. Thus a new gap of some unknown duration was proposed to solve the problem. Nowadays, (at least among academic pre-tribulationists aware of the problem with the earlier view), the official position is that a hitherto unnoticed gap of time must be NECESSARILY inferred to exist between the rapture and the start of the DOL. This is in order to give time for the man of lawlessness to be revealed FIRST, BEFORE the DOL can start.

The DOL would now be seen to start with the signing of the “peace treaty” that begins the final seventieth week of Dan 9:27, but this would be some unknown gap of time AFTER the revelation of the man of lawlessness. So, a new gap between the revelation of the man of sin and the DOL would now be observed in order to protect the pillar doctrine of imminence, essential to the pre-trib system. 

It is a long and laborious discussion, but in order to have the church taken out of the world before the tribulation, dispensationalists must argue for two distinct peoples of God, namely, Israel and the church. This is why the church must be defined in a new way, as a formerly unknown mystery organism, unanticipated and un-foretold in the prophetic writings of the OT, in that sense, an entirely new “mystery program” to fit into the gap between the 69th and 70th weeks of Daniel. That is between Pentecost and the presumed pre-trib rapture of the church.

According to this new and novel view of the nature of the church, first introduced by John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), blood bought, born again saints in the tribulation are not to be reckoned as part of the body of Christ. Even regenerate Jewish and gentile saints of the tribulation period are to be distinguished from the body and bride of Christ. A consistent distinction between saint and saint, between those living before the rapture and those living after the rapture, is absolutely indispensable to maintaining the church’s absence in the tribulation (as argued in John F. Walvoord’s, “The Rapture Question”).

Contrary to the view of earlier pretribulationists that the OT saints would be raised with the church at the rapture (see Scofield’s reference notes 1917 edition: [The ‘‘first resurrection,” that “unto life,” will occur at the second -coming of Christ (1 Cor. 15.23), the saints of the O.T. and church ages meeting Him in the air (1 Thes. 4.16, 17)”], later dispensational scholars saw the necessity to distinguish between the resurrection of the OT saints and the rapture of the church. But since the advent of Alexander Reese’s, “The Approaching Advent of Christ” (1937), dispensational scholars were moved to make another critical adjustment.

Reese’s argument was beyond easy answer. Clearly, and unequivocally, the resurrection of the OT saints was after the tribulation (Job 19:25-26; Isa 25:7-8; 26:19, 21; Dan 12:1-2, 13), at the “LAST day” (Jn 6:39-40, 44). In other words, the resurrection of the OT saints, as well as the last group of saints yet to be martyred by the beast, are raised at the “FIRST resurrection” AFTER the tribulation (Rev 6:10-11; 20:4).

This unavoidable acknowledgement compelled dispensational scholars to begin to teach that the righteous of the OT are NOT to be resurrected with the church. This means Abraham, Moses, and the prophets all remain “in the dust of the earth” for an additional seven years while the church attends the marriage supper in heaven. Then, with the “second phase” (?) of His return to set up the millennial kingdom, Jesus will then raise the OT saints together with the tribulation martyrs at the “second phase” of the first (?) resurrection.

Whether or not it is recognized by the average believer in a pre-trib rapture, well-read lay students, as well as academic scholars are fully aware that maintaining this distinction is indispensable to the defense of a pre-trib removal of the church.

For pretribulationists the logic is clear:: Because 70th week is marked by definite signs that the saints living during “those days” are expected to “see” (Mt 24:15; 2Thes 2:3-4; Rev 11:2; 13:4-7), it is concluded that the church cannot enter upon any part of Daniel’s last week of years if the doctrine of imminence is to be maintained. Moreover, since the entire seven years is held to be synonymous with the day of the Lord, it is argued that all of the events of that period should be contemplated as a continuously sustained “day of wrath” (Zeph 1:15; Ro 2:5).

Since Jeremiah would call this time of unequaled tribulation, “Jacob’s trouble”, it is believed that this period has only to do with the nation of Israel in particular and the nations in general. Except for the unsaved who are “left behind”, Jacob’s trouble becomes only Jacob’s problem, since the “pillar and ground of truth” has been removed by rapture. Seeing the entirety of the last seven years as the DOL and therefore “a / the day of wrath” (Zeph 2:15; Ro 2:5), and recognizing that the church is promised exemption from divine wrath (1Thes 1:10; 5:9), it is reasoned that the church cannot be present during any part of Daniel’s last week.

Neither the OT saints nor the persecuted “saints” depicted of the final tribulation (Dan 7:18, 21-22, 25, 27; 8:10; 11:33-35; 12:10; Rev 11:18; 13:7, 10: 14:12-13; 20:4) are believed to belong to a distinct and “people of God” with a distinct calling that is limited to the present, “church age”, understood as restricted to the period between Pentecost and the pre-trib rapture. So-called, “tribulation saints” are therefore carefully distinguished from the church. It is a distinction never heard of until newly discovered by its first known advocate, John Nelson Darby (1800-1882).

Has the church not welcomed into its ranks a very disarming Trojan Horse?

Next chart proposed:
Connecting the Resurrection, Last Trump, Day of the Lord & Zion’s Travail

The 3 ½ year (half week) unequaled tribulation is everywhere throughout the prophets compared to a woman in travail. We may call this time, “Jacob’s Trouble” or “Zion’s Travail”.

This brief period that comes suddenly and horrifyingly upon the unexpecting nation is not to be confused with the ultimate, post-tribulational, post-darkness DOL that brings us to the “great and notable / terrible day of the Lord” (Joel 2:11; Acts 2:20), the “great day of God Almighty” (Rev 16:14). As pointed out, this is a single day, the unique day and hour of Jesus’ return to destroy the AC with the Spirit of His mouth when He brings the final stroke of divine judgment on the world of the ungodly. In some few references, the mid-week Antichrist invasion of Israel is spoken of as beginning with the onset of the DOL (Joel 2:1-3; Jer 30:6-7; 1Thes 5:3). This is because, in contrast with all other invasions across the centuries, it is only the outbreak of the final and unequaled tribulation that leads inexorably to the post-trib, post-darkness DOL. In such contexts, the beginning of the birth pangs is the clear and certain sign that the long-awaited spiritual birth and resurrection of the beleaguered nation has arrived. 

Isaiah 13:6-10

Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand;
it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint,
and every man’s heart shall melt:
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them;
they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth:
they shall be amazed one at another;
their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh,
cruel both with wrath and fierce anger,
to lay the land desolate:
and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light:
the sun shall be darkened in his going forth,
and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

5 For thus saith the LORD;
We have heard a voice of trembling,
of fear, and not of peace.
6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child?
wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail,
and all faces are turned into paleness?
7 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. Jeremiah 30:5-7

We can see the undeniable connection. Jeremiah is obviously building on Isaiah’s earlier prophecy of the DOL. Although his prophecy was uniquely serviceable to his own contemporaries who were facing the impending destruction of Jerusalem, how can it be conceived that Jeremiah is speaking of anything less final than the ultimate DOL? And who better than Daniel to give us the authoritative interpretation and ultimate application of Jeremiah’s prophecy of Jacob’s trouble?

Daniel 12:1-2

And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. 2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake …

We see the climactic end and new beginning in the following passages from Isaiah and his contemporary, Micah. Another contemporary to the north, Hosea will describe the same period as affliction and distress.

Isaiah 26:16-17, 19-21

LORD, in trouble have they visited thee,
they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.
17 Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery,
is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs;
so have we been in thy sight, O LORD.
19 Thy dead men shall live,
together with my dead body shall they arise.
Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust:
for thy dew is as the dew of herbs,
and the earth shall cast out the dead.
20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers,
and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment,
until the indignation be overpast.
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity:
the earth also shall disclose her blood,
and shall no more cover her slain.

Here again we see the resurrection of the dead and the Lord’s final judgment of His enemies immediately following the birth pangs of Jacob’s trouble.

Isaiah 66:8-10

Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things?
Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day?
or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD:
shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.
10 Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her:
rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her:

Here is Israel’s post-travail / post-tribulational new birth as an all holy, all saved Jewish nation in analogy with the several scriptures that speak of their spiritual resurrection at the post-trib DOL.

Finally, we will mention Micah’s prophecy of the ascent to world dominion of the smitten Davidic ruler from Bethlehem. Here, as in Zech 12:10 with Mt 23:39 & Rev 1:7, we see the profoundly intentional analogy to the reunion of Joseph with his estranged brethren, as the Messiah’s brethren return to Him AFTER Zion’s travail, after the long period of divine desertion (the age long hiding of God’s face), as we will also see in Hosea’s prophecy of the three days.

​Micah 5:1-4

Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops:
He (God) hath laid siege against us: they (“His own”) shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah,
yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel;
whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
3 Therefore (for this cause) will he give them up,
until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth:
then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
4 And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD,
in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God;
and they shall abide: for now shall He (the smitten ruler from Bethlehem) be great unto the ends of the earth.

Hosea 5:15 – 6:2

I will go and return to My place,
till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face:
in their affliction they will seek me early.
​1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD:
for he hath torn, and he will heal us;
he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
2 After two days will he revive us:
in the third day (millennial day) He will raise us up,
and we shall live in His sight.

Note that the post-tribulational acknowledgement of the ancient offense is met with the everlasting deliverance of the great day.

1 Thessalonians 5:2-3

For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

Whereas it may not be only Jews in the Land making this presumptuous declaration in the time just before the onset of the DOL, we take it as especially applying to the false sense of security that will prevail as result of the deadly covenant with death and hell (Isa 28:15, 18; Eze 38:8, 11, 14; Dan 9:27; 11:23-24).

Now compare the travail passages and unequaled trouble passages with this most interesting passage from Joel’s description of the unequaled DOL. Observe the remarkably close parallel with Isa 13:6-10 and Jer 30:6-7 as shown above. Without question, the same time is in view. Notice how the Land is Edenic for beauty before the locust-like invasion of the “northern army”, but with the ravaging invasion, the Land is suddenly turned into “a desolate wilderness”.

​Joel 2:1-3, 6, 10-11

Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain:
let all the inhabitants of the land tremble:
for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
A day of darkness and of gloominess,
a day of clouds and of thick darkness,
as the morning spread upon the mountains:
a great people and a strong;
there hath not been ever the like,
neither shall be any more after it,
even to the years of many generations.
A fire devoureth before them;
and behind them a flame burneth:
the land is as the garden of Eden before them,
and behind them a desolate wilderness;
yea, and nothing shall escape them …
Before their face the people shall be much pained:
all faces shall gather blackness …
The earth shall quake before them;
the heavens shall tremble:
the sun and the moon shall be dark,
and the stars shall withdraw their shining:
And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army:
for his camp is very great:
for he is strong that executeth his word:
for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible;
and who can abide it?

This doesn’t bode well for the completely irresponsible, entirely unscriptural statement that “the Land of Israel will be the safest place for Jews during the great tribulation”. (see this morning’s email answer to a question on the order of the return).

Lastly, we want to compare parallel verses aligning the resurrection of the righteous with Isaiah’s “great trumpet” (Isa 27:13), Paul’s “last trump” (1Cor 15:52), Jesus’ “great sound of a trumpet” (Mt 24:31), and Revelation’s “seventh trumpet” (Rev 10:7; 11:15). We do this in order to better assess where we want to stand on the question of the time and relationship of these trumpets, and whether there is more than one resurrection in view.

Isaiah 27:12-13

And it shall come to pass in that day,
that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt,
and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day,
that the great trumpet shall be blown,
and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria,
and the outcasts in the land of Egypt,
and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

Note that this time and this return of the saved survivors of Israel returning by natural transport over the dried up waterways is recorded in Isa 11:10-12, 15-16 & Zech 10:10-11.

Matthew 24:29-31

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Matthew 24:29-31

Revelation 10:7

But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

Revelation 11:15, 18-19

And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. … And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

It is agreed by all that the above trumpets all have reference to a final trumpet that sounds at the end of the tribulation. All agree that there will be a resurrection at this time. Now we come to Paul’s two references to a trumpet. All agree that Paul’s reference to the “trump of God” in 1Thes 4:16

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

and the “last trump” in 1Cor 15:51-52

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52

both refer to the same trumpet coinciding with the resurrection, but some believe this trumpet sounds seven years earlier than the trumpets of Isaiah, Jesus, and John’s Revelation. Let us now review the larger context of Paul’s reference to the last trump and see if it is possible, or likely that this last trump is different from the trumpets that sound at the resurrection of the saints at the end of the tribulation.

1 Corinthians 15:51-55

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, THEN shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

Here Paul mentions in support two OT references that are clearly and undeniably POST-tribulational in their original context and intention. Is Paul repurposing these references, or is he showing the time that they will be fulfilled for “all who belong to Christ”? (1Cor 15:23, 52). Let’s look at the two passages he cites and see if they are fulfilled at the time of Isaiah’s, Jesus, and Revelation’s trumpets, or at an earlier trumpet that just happens to be called “last”.

Isaiah 25:6-8

And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people
a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees,
of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
7 And he will destroy in this mountain
the face of the covering cast over all people,
and the vail that is spread over all nations.
8 He will swallow up death in victory;
and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces;
and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth:
for the LORD hath spoken it.

Hosea 13:13-14

The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him …
I will ransom them from the power of the grave;
I will redeem them from death:
O death, I will be thy plagues;
O grave, I will be thy destruction:
repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

In both places the time is clear. Isaiah’s reference in particular is set in a context recognized as a distinct section called, “Isaiah’s little apocalypse”. This includes chapters 24-27, and all are in reference to the Day of the Lord, Israel’s final trouble and resurrection. It is therefore significant that here is where we find Isaiah’s reference to the great deliverance trumpet connected to the post-tribulation salvation and return of Israel (Isa 27:12-13).

As mentioned, Job’s, Isaiah’s, Daniel’s, and the saved remnant of national Israel are all raised at the time of the trumpet that follows the tribulation. How then can we suppose that Paul’s LAST trumpet is NOT the time that this particular saying which is written is brought to pass? (compare also Rev 10:7; 11:15). The last trump is the stated time of the fulfillment of these OT references to Israel’s resurrection “IMMEDIATELY AFTER” the tribulation, and should it not be the time of the church’s resurrection? Or are we more willing to conceive that Job, Isaiah, Daniel, and the elect remnant of righteous Israel are to remain in their graves (“sleep in the dust of the earth”; Dan 12:2) We for an additional seven years after the taking up of the church? Such a view is awkward to say the least. You be the judge.

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How is it possible that all Israel will be saved and yet people will be going into the millennial reign of Christ without being transformed and having new bodies?

Will all Israel that’s a part of the church be transformed into heavenly bodies?

How will there be people going into the millennium without heavenly bodies?

It doesn’t make sense to me

What makes sense matters, but the first question of paramount concern is what does the text SAY?!

Secondly, what is the evidence for how the biblical writers expected to be understood? Were they correct in how they understood their own prophecies? Or was there a deeper, allegorical meaning that eluded their limited understanding?

Was their interpretation of what Yahweh spoke merely a reflection of a “primitive, nationalistic, time bound” understanding that would someday be replaced by a different interpretation that could not have been understood or recognized by the prophets or their contemporaries? That’s the hermeneutical question in debate.

After establishing the plain person’s plain reading of plain language, we can then begin to look for light as to how certain antinomies (difficulties / paradoxes) can be reconciled WITHOUT violence to the original author’s intention.

The very meaning of the millennium is at stake here. Why should God make such a point of ending the age around the “controversy of Zion”, a conflict that is destined to draw all nations into an insoluble, inescapable dilemma over the Land and people of Israel that sets off the final world conflict? (Isa 34:8; Zech 12:2-3).

It will be a kind of valley of decision designed to test hearts, primarily over the issue of the nature of saving grace and the ‘kind’ of righteousness (not one’s own but the Lord’s alone) that can stand in the judgment.

In other words, why should God be so determined on saving an elect remnant of ethnic Jews (“natural branches”) unless it is to set the wayward nation of an irrevocable divine election forth as the statement and demonstration of His free and sovereign prerogative to change and qualify them for a final and secure inheritance of the Land by predestined grace.

He has set them at the center of the nations, that He might show in them for a thousand years of public demonstration, the power of His ability to choose whom He will, and quicken whom He will (Mt 11:27; Jn 5:21; Ro 9:18) at the “set time” of His choosing (Ps 102:13; 110:3; Isa 30:18; Gal 1:15-16), and thus finally and forever preserve, not only them but each and everyone of their children after them in abiding holiness, never again to depart (Isa 59:20-21; Jer 32:40, et al.).

Why? What’s He out to prove? What’s His point?

The design is to press upon the consciousness of the nations God’s faithfulness to His immutable covenant word that most of the world doesn’t even know exists, as multitudes are even now being preconditioned to despise and dismiss this word by the events that are swiftly hurling us to the time of final reckoning.

That covenant (called synonymously “new” / and “everlasting”) is not fully complete or satisfied (in all its original terms) until there is not a living Jew on the post-tribulation earth that is not born again and preserved in the “everlasting salvation” of the “everlasting righteousness” of Christ throughout the entirety of the millennial interim as an all holy nation, “never again” to depart (Isa 45:17, 25; 59:20-21; 60:21; Jer 31:34; 32:37-41, Dan 9:24, with so many more that could be listed ).

This uniformity of a completely saved and eternally preserved Jewish population at peace in their own, covenanted Land is the goal of the covenant, since only then will the long blinded Jewish nation have their spiritual eyes opened. A coming day when the blind shall see, and those who always before resisted the Spirit opposer shall learn doctrine is promised all throughout Moses and the prophets (compare Deut 29:4 with Deut 4:25-31; 30:1-6; Isa 29:18, 24; Acts 7:51).

Only when, not a mere remnant, but “all” the people are righteous (Isa 60:21; Jer 31:34), with an eternal righteousness not their own (Isa 45:24; 54:17; Jer 23:5-6; Dan 9:24), can they fulfill the covenant conditions and thus keep the Land forever in abiding peace and security.

This will be possible because the tendency to backslide and come back under the curses of the covenant will be forever cured by the everlasting righteousness of the everlasting covenant. No more will the righteous remnant suffer the sins and exile of the larger apostate nation, since all will be preserved in new covenant righteousness forever, “world without end” (Isa 45:17).

It is one thing for God to bring the Jews into the Land, but a radical transformation is required for them to be assured of permanent security in the Land. This is the very thing the everlasting / new covenant guarantees. From this, it is clear to see why the prophets understood that nothing short of a climactic, apocalyptic day of the Lord could ever bring about such a radical and permanent change in the whole of the nation.

More specifically, not all the nation but only the remnant who escaped death in order to arrive at that ultimately transformative day (Ps 102:13; 110:3; Isa 66:8; Eze 39:22; Zech 3:9; 12:10; 13:8-9; Mt 23:39; Acts 3:21; Ro 11:26; Rev 1:7) .

This is why, not only a remnant, but the entirety of the nation must “all” know Him (Jer 31:34; Eze 39:22, 28-29) in order for them to be able to keep the Land forever, as promised in the plain language of the covenant. As I like to say, “in order for the Jews to inherit the Land forever, they must have a righteousness that is forever”.

This righteousness, which is the Lord’s own righteousness alone (Isa 45:24-25; 54:7; Jer 23:5-6), must extend, not only to a remnant, but the whole of the nation and all the children born to them in future generations, lest the tendency to backslide send them back under the curses of the broken covenant.

This “everlasting righteousness”, which is none their own, but the Lord’s alone, is that righteousness that was perfected in the Son and imputed to the believer whose faith is counted for righteousness. This righteousness, once imputed, is invariably made manifest by the gift and fruits of the enlivening Holy Spirit.

Of course, all of this applies now to every true-born believer of this age and the assurance of eternal inheritance in the age to come (both the millennium and the new heavens and earth), but God intended an earthly demonstration of His ability to accomplish this divine, self assigned “mission impossible” here, on this earth with the Jewish people, here, at the scene of the crime, so to speak, in the presence of a helplessly bound enemy (Satan).

It was necessary that this grace be exhibited and put on display by weak, natural jars of clay, supernaturally upheld in holiness by the gift of the Holy Spirit and nothing of human power.

Manifestly, God has set this interim period as the demonstration of His ability, not only “to graft them in again” but to keep them in, forever!. This requires an interim that is a glorious advance on the present age, yet short of the final, ultimate perfection that follows the millennium.

This newly and suddenly saved remnant of penitent survivors (like Paul’s sudden arrest on the Damascus road) will enter the millennium in their natural bodies and be assisted back to their Land by surviving gentiles compare Isa 14:2; 40:22; 60:9; 66:20; Zech 8:23). Manifestly, these survivors from among the nations did not take the mark, but were also not yet born again (not yet “in Christ”) at the time of the last trump, when Jesus was revealed from heaven (Isa 26:12-13 with Mt 24:29-31; 1Cor 15:52).

Many scriptures speak of this sudden salvation of the surviving remnant of penitent Jewish survivors at the Lord’s post-trib return (Ps 102:13; 110:3; Isa 59:17-21; 66:8; Jer 30:6-7; Eze 39:22, 28-29; Zech 3:9; 12:10; Mt 23:39; Acts 3:21; Ro 11:26; with Rev 1:7) with the result that now, an all saved Jewish population will never again backslide and fall back under covenant judgment, but “all”, from the least to the greatest will know the Lord (Isa 59:21; Jer 31:34; 32:40; Eze 37:25; 39:22). THIS is the OT context behind Paul’s statement, “and so all Israel shall be saved”.

This sudden national salvation of a surviving remnant is everywhere shown to take place at the post-tribulational day of the Lord. It’s purpose is the open and public vindication of “My covenant with THEM (natural branches) when I shall (future) take away THEIR (the irrevocably elect and no less beloved enemy’s) sin …”

Several scriptures show very definitely that the time Paul has in view is the post-trib day of the Lord, which the NT obviously equates with Christ’s return. When Jesus arrives in glory, the dead in Christ, together with all those alive in Christ at the time, will be changed in an instant, immediately translated into glorified immortality.

At the same time (“in one day”; Ps 102:13; 110:3; Isa 66:8; Zech 3:9; Eze 39:22; Mt 23:39; Ro 11:26; Rev 1:7) ; a surviving remnant of Jews, having just been brought to the end of their power (Deut 32:36; Dan 12:7), “look upon their pierced Messiah”, and immediately go apart to weep in deepest contrition, as when Joseph revealed himself to his estranged brethren (compare Gen. 45 with Mic 5:3-4; Zech 12:10; Mat 23:39; Rev 1:7). After the great purgation of tribulation judgment, the newly saved Jewish remnant (Eze 20:33-40; Amos 9:9-10) goes into the millennium in natural, albeit Spirit filled bodies (Eze 39:22, 28-29).

Now, with it established that the scripture is very clear that a surviving remnant will make up the newly born nation, entering the post-tribulational kingdom in natural bodies, returning by every natural means of transport back to the Land to build and plant, raise families, and witness to the nations, the question is naturally raised, “what will be the relationship of those who enter the millennial kingdom in their natural bodies and those who have been translated at the rapture?”

When taken together, the cumulative evidence of scripture creates what can be called a “necessary inference”. I believe the puzzle is only solved, with due respect to all that the scripture says, by recognizing what I like to call, a “dimensional divide”.

The mystery of the rapture is not a mystery as to its time. That is no mystery (compare Hos 13:14; Isa 25:7-8; 27:12-13; Mt 24:29-31 with 1Cor 15:5-54 ). The mystery has to do with a ‘dimensional divide’ between those who will be putting on resurrected bodies with capacities that are like the angels and like the Lord in His post-resurrection appearances for the purpose of spiritual rule, (as for example, ruling over 5 or 10 cities), but in a realm of existence, not any less on earth, but not immediately visible to saved and unsaved mortals in the millennium (compare Mt 19:28; 22:30; Lk 19:17:18; 1Cor 13:12).

There is so much more that can help clarify and harmonize, but the greatest problem (other than failure to fully depend on the Spirit for the mercy of illumination) is lack of OT literacy on the popular level, and on the scholarly level, the tendency to embrace of a set of a-priori presuppositions that seeks to harmonize the testaments by a radical method of reinterpretation and spiritualization. It’s a great, historic deficiency in the church due to centuries of neglect of the OT and artificial, unsatisfactory solutions that fail to convincingly harmonize the testaments.

Second point implicit in your question is the relationship of the body to national Israel:

To be clear, Israel can only be saved as it becomes the body of Christ by the transforming, regenerating revelation of Christ. If they are alive to God, they are “in Christ”, and thus part of His body sharing in the unity of the Spirit, equally with all saints, whether Jew or Gentile.

1 Corinthians 6:17
But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

In the natural order, there is a necessary and crucial distinction between Israel and the church, just as between male and female. But there is no distinction at all in the unity of the one new man, that is all who know the Lord, whether in times past, in this age, or the millennial age to come.

This unity of the Spirit in the God-Man is not a new truth, but an old truth that has come to full light in the revelation of the mystery. (Remember this: something that is newly revealed, or has come to much greater light, does not mean that it did not exist before, just as the revelation of Jesus has brought much clearer light on the triune nature of the Godhead. Yet no one would say that such new revelation created something that did not exist before).

In distinguishable contrast from the one new man of the Spirit, natural Israel and the supernatural preservation of Jewish identity throughout the generations, belongs to a corporate election that does not guarantee the salvation of any individual in the set apart nation. Instead, precisely because of the covenant mandate, belonging to the Jewish race commends the covenant breaker to a “double” discipline, as foretold in scripture and witnessed throughout history.

So when Israel comes to faith on that day, they will be no less the living body of Christ, albeit with a unique and special calling, role, and stewardship to be lived out openly in the presence of the nations throughout the millennium.

Thus, the millennium exists primarily for this open covenant vindication and demonstration of every word and aspect of His everlasting covenant, to be lived out in literal detail before the nations and also the onlooking principalities and powers. This will show show for a thousand years of open, fully visible demonstration that God was indeed able, not only to bring the people He first brought out of Egypt back into the Land, but now, because of an “everlasting righteousness” (namely, the righteousness of the Son), eternally secure to one and all, they will abide, preserved in holiness and peace in the Land, within the originally specified borders of the promise.

We are led then to infer, most necessarily on the basis of 1Cor 15:50-52, that all who come to faith during the millennium, with any who die in the Lord during the millennium, will be raised with their new body at the end of the millennium when the great transition to the new heavens and earth follows the final rebellion.

If that explanation does not fully satisfy every question, it is also to be considered that there is a mystery about time in the realm of the Spirit as it intersects with natural historical time. In any event, lingering questions must not be permitted to impose on the clarity of what the text plainly ‘SAYS’.

May the kind Shepherd, “come alongside”, and cause our hearts to burn within us, as He opens to us the Scriptures.

Reggie

The post What Kind of Bodies Will Israel Have in the Millennium? appeared first on Mystery of Israel.

Paul knew the trumpet of Isa 27:12-13 (also Ps 47:5; Joel 2:1; Zeph 1:16-18) sounds at the same time the nation is being born “at once” / in “one day” in Isa 66:8 (with Ps 102:13; Eze 39:22; Zech 3:9; 12:10; 14:7). That is the same moment the AC is being destroyed in “one day” (Is 9:14; 10:17; 47:9) by the breath of the Messiah’s mouth / voice (Isa 11:4; 30:27-33; 31:8-9; 42:11-14; 66:6-8; Joel 3:16; Zeph 1:7, 14-18; Zech 9:14).

As Paul’s manifest use of the Septuagint’s translation of Isa 11:4 in 2Thes 2:8 makes clear, the AC is destroyed at the instant of the Lord’s return to judge the wicked, raise the dead, and assert His rod iron rule over the nations the “last trump” (1Cor 15:52; Rev 10:7; 11:15). It all lines up with the moment (“twinkling of an eye”) of His return like the lightning flashing across the sky (Mt 24:27, 29-31; Rev 1:7).

Obviously, the NT writers believe their OT, literally! They put the pieces together by the help and leading of the Holy Spirit. They are not advancing ‘new truth’ but unraveling the mystery of what stood written in the OT prophetic scriptures (Acts 26:22-23; Ro 11:25-29; 16:25-26; 1Pet 1:11). That’s the glory and compelling proof of the gospel, that it was all foretold!

But the timing of the resurrection and the last trumpet was NOT the mystery! Observe that Paul very plainly identifies that the post-tribulational resurrection of Isa 25:8 & Hos 13:14 is “brought to pass” (“THEN shall be brought to pass”) at the last trumpet (1Cor 15:51-55). So what is the “mystery” that Paul is showing us? I would suggest that it is the phenomenon of the “change” (compare Job 14:14 NKJV) into a new dimension of existence, with new powers and capacities for rule that Jesus says will be “like the angels” (Mt 22:30; Lk 20:36).

It is a dimension that will permit the everyday believer of this age to “know as they are known” (1Cor 13:12) with the capacity to “judge angels” (1Cor 6:3). Recognition of this “dimensional divide” helps to explain how the now glorified saints can, “like the angels”, exert a spiritual rule over that number from the nations who were not raptured, but survived to enter the millennium in their natural bodies.

Paul is giving us a resolution to a paradox (antinomy) that has perplexed many.

If our view of scripture commits us to take the scriptures of the OT in their plainly intended meaning. And if we believe that these can and should be harmonized with NT revelation, then Paul’s mystery of the translation becomes most helpful in making some crucial distinctions. For example, how do we reconcile the many OT scriptures that show Jewish and gentile survivors of the final tribulation entering the post-DOL millennial age in natural bodies, building, evangelizing, having children, etc.

How do we understand the nature of this cohabitation of the glorified redeemed and the un-resurrected, Spirit filled survivors of Israel on the millennial earth? Will the resurrected be visible to one another but not to the unresurrected. It would appear so from a number of scriptures (e.g., Isa 26:10; 60:12; Zech 14:16-19; Rev 20:7-9).

If the plain language and context of many OT scriptures be given due respect and weight, and if a reconciling harmony can be expected to exist without ignoring or neglecting the plain meaning of any text of the inerrant scripture of truth, then Paul’s revelation of this “mystery” leads to what we might call a “necessary inference” that serves to very satisfactorily explain this perplexity.

Not only will the DOL bring the separation between the righteous and the mark taking wicked, the last trump will also bring a ‘dimensional divide’ between those who were already “in Christ” at that time (1Cor 15:23, 52) and the penitent remnant of Israel who are just then receiving the transforming “revelation” (not mere physical sight) of Jesus at the moment of His return in the clouds of heaven (notably analogous to Paul’s sudden arrest on the Damascus road; compare Ps 102:13; 110:3; Isa 66:8; Eze 39:22; Mic 5:3-4; Zech 3:9; 12:10; Mt 23:39; Acts 3:21; Ro 11:26; Rev 1:7).

At this revelatory self disclosure of their long rejected “Joseph” (Mic 5:1-4; Zech 12:10; 13:1 with Mt 23:39; Rev 1:7), the penitent survivors of Israel “go apart to mourn” in deepest contrition (Zech 12:10). With every Jewish survivor now saved and filled with the Spirit, and with the assistance of earnestly seeking gentile survivors (Isa 14:2; 49:22; 60:9; 66:20; Zech 8:23), the broken and beautified, uniformly saved “Jewish” nation, begin their long trek back home across land and sea (notably across the dried up riverbeds of the great historic rivers of Nile and Euphrates; see Isa 11:12, 15-16; 19:4-8; 27:12-13; Zech 10:9-11; Rev 16:12).

My grace granted aim at this year’s conference will be to address the two inextricably related questions: “Why the Jew?” & “Why a Millennium?” What has God invested in a thousand years of open vindication and public demonstration of His everlasting covenant, not only in the sight of the nations, living and past, but of the principalities and powers who continually raise the question ,”has God really said?”, in their long war on the Word.

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Who is the wicked prince of Israel in Eze 21:25?

How about “the prince of the covenant” of Dan 11:22?

Commentaries will say the wicked prince of Eze 21:25 is Zedekiah, as you can check on Bible Hub in their collection of commentaries. Just type in the verse.

But then, as you know, there is almost always a near and far fulfillment, the past being very often the pattern of last things. So my best guess would be that the “wicked prince” is also the “foolish / idol shepherd” of Zech 11:15, 17.

Apparently, just about the time of the renewed sacrifice, some venerated figure within Judaism will have emerged to become, if not Messiah (less likely), perhaps a potential candidate for Messiah (more likely), or perhaps the officiating high priest over the restored sanctuary and sacrifice.

This highly honored presumer will evidently be “overflown and broken” at the same time the power of the IDF falls to the now irresistible force of the combined armies of the AC (Rev 13:4).

Daniel 11:22 (KJV)
“And with the arms of a flood (see Isa 28:2; 59:19; Dan 9:26) shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant.”

This I read as taking place in the middle of the week. There are a couple of good reasons for this that I’ll not take time to go into, but I think it’s important that we NOT permit the placement of Dan 11:22 before the abomination of Dan 11:31 to imply an earlier invasion of the Land and the killing of this leader. Here’s why:

Just as Dan 12:1 functions as a ‘recap’ of the event that was introduced in Dan 11:31 (as clearly confirmed by Dan 12:11); in the same way, Dan 11:22 is inserted as a ‘precap’ of the same time that begins when the Antichrist floods the Land in the middle of the week (Dan 9:27; 12:11).

We know this because until that point, Israel is enjoying an illusory, short lived peace that finds them wholly unprepared for the suddenness of the AC’s surprise invasion to start the 42 months of downtreading of Jerusalem (compare Isa 28:18; Lk 21:24; Rev 11:2, Mt 24:16, 2Thes 2:4; with Eze 38:8, 11, 14; 39:26; Isa 28:15, 18; Dan 8:25; 9:27; 11:23-24; 1Thes 5:3).

Then, beginning with the following verse (i.e., Dan 11:23), there is the resumption of an actual unbroken chronological order of events that make up the first half of the week, beginning with Israel’s disarming peace “league / alliance / covenant” made with the man who will become Satan incarnate at the middle of the week (Dan 8:23-25; 2Thes 2:4, 8-9; Rev 13:5, 8; 12:7-12; Rev 17:8, 10).

This is the one who fulfills the final installment of the ongoing “mystery of lawlessness” (2Thes 2:6-8), the ordained counter-antithesis to the “mystery of godliness” (1Tim 3:16). This final mystery of incarnation of the two seeds of the Garden brings the incarnation of the ancient serpent who stands behind all the anti-God, covenant despising aggressors of history (Eze 38:17). This is the “coming PRINCE” of Dan 9:26 (compare Eze 38:2-3; 39:1; Dan 10:13).

As the collective “seed of the serpent” (Gen 3:15), i.e., “the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience (Eph 2:2-3; 5:6; Col 3:6; 2Thes 2:6, 8-9) the man of lawlessness will be the final and complete embodiment of this mystery in a man (Dan Dan 7:8 with Rev 13:18).

So, from Dan 11:23-30, we have a ‘play by play’ order of events from the “confirming” / “strengthening” / “endorsing” of the covenant to begin the week (Dan 9:27, which, most evidently, should be understood as taking place at the same time as “the league made with him”, Dan 11:23) – to the breaking of the alliance (and assault on the “holy covenant”, Dan 11:28, 30) in the middle of the week.

Then, beginning with verse 31, we have a clear order of the events of the second half of the week, which is, of course, what Daniel and Jesus will call the “great”, unparalleled “trouble / tribulation” (Dan 12:1; Mt 24:21).

This “understanding” among the ‘maskilim’ (Heb. the wise having insight) of the basic order and meaning of the final seven years, particularly the first half as critical preparation for the second half, will prove of massive strategic value for the fulfillment of God’s purpose for the close of this age. It will be a bulwark against the unparalled deception (Dan 7:11, 25; 8:23-25; Mt 24:4-5, 11, 24; 2Thes 2:3, 9-10; Rev 13:8). It will be critical to the explaining the divinely intended meaning of the unfolding these final events. It will bring final, gloriously manifest harmony between the Old and New Testaments, what I’m so fond of calling, “the glory of the Story”.

Such manifest fulfillment of prophecy supporting the truth of the gospel, preached under great anointing, will turn to the greatest harvest of souls ever witnessed in history amid “THE tribulation, the great one”. (Dan 11:32-33; 12:3; Mt 24:14; Rev 7:9, 13-14; 14:6).

“When this agreement shall have been confirmed, the wise will know that the final Seven of years has commenced, that the end days are present, that the consummation of the age has arrived. They will expect the violation of the covenant after three years and a half, and will not be overwhelmed with surprise, having been told beforehand by this prophecy. Then will it be seen in fulness that the knowledge of prophetic Scripture is simply priceless.” (G. H. Lang, “The Histories and Prophecies of Daniel”; pg. 140).

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Does our view see the Day of the Lord as one specific, single day occurring at the end of the tribulation when Christ returns to destroy the AC and raise the righteous dead? I’ve heard we need to include the broad concept of the day of the Lord, meaning, that the Day of the LORD (DOL) begins with the abomination and continues for three and one half years.

Is this legitimate and correct?, or should the DOL be confined to one single extraordinary day occurring at the end of the tribulation thereby ushering in the first day of the millennial age? For example, is Ezekiel 39:8 a single day or a period of time in duration?

“Doc”

I believe it is the latter choice. It is a very specific day (“one day”; Isa 66:9; Zech 3:9; 14:7), around which is clustered an intensive convergence of many events, leading to, and issuing from, that are certainly not confined to one day. It is the day and hour, even instant (1Cor 15:52) that constitutes the great transition between this age and the age to come.

To answer your last question first, most definitely and assuredly Eze 39:8 is the “great day of God Almighty“ referred to in Rev 16:12-17. This is seen very clearly by observing that the same, very precise language of Eze 39:8 is applied to the “great day of God Almighty” in Rev 16:17.

Significantly, this day is shown to come in conjunction with the 7th bowl, which significantly follows Jesus’ announcement that His now truly imminent coming will be “like a thief” (Rev 16:15). This announcement is significantly interjected between the 6th and 7th bowls. So the time in view here is very precisely the very end of the tribulation.

Note too that in all of scripture, the only two places that the precise term, “day of God” is found is in 2Pet 3:12 and Rev 16:14. In second Peter, the “day of God” is a synonym for the thief-like day of the Lord (2Pet 3:10, 12). These are important markers, since in both 2Pet 3:10-12 and Rev 16:12-17, the “day of God” comes as a thief on the unsuspecting world of unbelievers at the very end of the tribulation.

From this you can see that the DOL and the great day of God Almighty are the same day, and the latter is clearly at the 7th bowl. The DOL doesn’t get any narrower than that, and this is the usual meaning throughout the prophets.

However, there are 3 possible (?) exceptions to this rule. As far as I’m aware, there are exactly 3 places where the DOL appears to comprehend all of the the last half of Daniel’s 70th week. These are Joel 2:1-3; Jer 30:7; 1Thes 5:3.

Jer 30:7 uses the term “that day”, but does this mean the whole 3 1/2 years of Zion’s travail is “that day”? or is this language intended to signify that the onset birth pangs brings on that day?

The same could be said of Joel 2:1-3. There we see the Land as a scene of Edenic verdant beauty when suddenly invaded by the northern army, likened to an army of devouring locust that turns the Land to a blackened desolation.

We know the Land is not Edenic at the end of the tribulation but at the start. So does the invasion start the DOL or does it end in the DOL?

A number of scriptures in the prophets, including Joel, place the DOL as “near” or “at hand”, not at the outset of the tribulation but at its end, when the armies of the earth are gathered, even after the stellar darkness that takes place “immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days” (Isa 13:10-11; 34:4; Joel 2:2, 31; 3:15; Zeph 1:15; Mt 24:29; Acts 2:20; Rev 6:12).

So if the DOL is AFTER this darkening of the sun and moon (Mt 24:29; Acts 2:20) And if the darkness is AFTER the tribulation, then the DOL / great day of God Almighty is a very specific time AFTER the darkness that AFTER “the tribulation of those days”, i.e., the end of the end.

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is NEAR in the valley of decision. Joel 3:14

Here the armies have gathered for Armageddon at the end of the tribulation, but the DOL is not yet. Here is a rhyme that underscores the point. “If anything should be CLEAR, it is that when something is NEAR, it is not yet HERE!” ?

This suggests that mention of the things that start the final 3 1/2 years are not the DOL precisely, but are the events that trigger it and terminate with it.

The same can be said of the final example in 1Thes 5:3.
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

Although the DOL comes as a thief, it is never represented as imminent or independent of preceding signs. For example, in 2Thes 2:1-3 “that day” must be preceded by the falling away and the revelation of the man of lawlessness. So here, in 1Thes 5:3, the day cannot arrive unless it is first preceded by a recognizable declaration (presumption) of “peace and safety”. This is yet another sign that must precede the DOL.

Certainly, this is not the end of the tribulation, since the last moments of the history of this age ends in anything BUT peace and safety. So what is this declaration and when is it?

The most likely background for what Paul is anticipating here is found Eze 38:8, 11, 14; 39:26 (also Isa 28:15, 18). There the attack of the final agressor of whom, not only Ezekiel, but “ALL” the prophets have spoken (Eze 38:17) finds the covenant people under the delusion of presumed safety. That this is not abiding millennial security but pre-tribulational false security is shown by observing that this invasion that ends with Israel’s national regeneration (Eze 39:21-29).

So here you have the DOL coming upon a recently regathered nation that is dwelling in a fragile, false security (Eze 38:8, 11, 14; Eze 39:26). Since we know this security does not exist after the tribulation begins, the question comes: Is this sudden disruption of Israel’s peace the arrival / beginning of the DOL? (i.e., a broader period, inclusive of the entirety of the 3 1/2 years). Or, is this invasion simply the event that brings on the DOL 3 1/2 years later?

In view of the above evidence that so well defines the DOL and places it (in the far greater number of references) at the very end of the tribulation, I am inclined to favor the latter. Moreover, every error that I know that places the rapture before the end, whether pre-trib, mid-trib, or pre-wrath, all depend on moving the DOL around to different starting points in order to extend the DOL to include all, or some significant portion of Daniel’s 70th week

(note that only the last half of 70th week should be seen as the “great tribulation”, because until the abomination is placed in the middle of the seven, Israel is under the illusion that peace has come).

For example, pre-tribulations can only be maintained by making the DOL include the entirety of the 70th week. Just why their system stands or falls with this ‘assumption’ is a discussion too tedious and involved to embark upon here, but it’s a study in how the defense of one inference, not explicitly stated in scripture, requires the defense of another inference, also not explicitly stated in scripture.

Hope that helps, Reggie

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Yes, I believe and affirm that God preserves an ethnic distinction from among the natural branches precisely in order to demonstrate and set on public display His covenant word to Israel for the vindication of His sovereignty in divine election, and for the instruction of the nations and the fallen order of principalities and powers through what He has purposed to show through them. A preserved remnant from among the natural branches will indeed be born in a day (Isa 66:8; Zech 3:9) and gathered from all nations, never to be invaded again. That is sure and certain! Until then, they are made sufficiently distinguishable as a distinct ethnic race precisely in order to show in them the discipline of the covenant and to test the hearts of all nations concerning this blinded people who, though momentarily enemies of the gospel, are NONETHELESS BELOVED, and are to be so regarded, to the chagrin of those nations who have laid malicious, unfeeling hands on God’s afflicted in their pitiable ghetto condition, a presumption that will be much required in that day.

But this Pauline insistence that the covenant cannot be fulfilled in its complete scope apart from their return is a vast remove from the presumption that the salvation of Christ is somehow mysteriously operating among the nations on the principle of some hidden DNA. Interesting, is it not? That such a genetic connection is conveniently hidden under the radar of a Hitler? Do we put confidence in a genetic connection that is so hidden as to escape the costly identification with the nation that is marked off by a special divine discipline that has pursued the Jewish people across the millennia, that was to be a public instruction to all the other nations? (Amos 3:2). No, to find the Israel that is set apart for both a discipline of ultimate astonishment and an age concluding salvation, in order to trace the people of that well foretold history, one must follow the trail of tears and blood! That’s where you’ll find the people of the double curse who are destined for the double glory on a restored millennial earth!

A uniquely severe covenant curse attaches to this people of the high, but failed calling, as history has so conspicuously witnessed in its unrelieved, ever repeated cycles of judgement and persecution that must continue to the day of the Lord. This supposed hidden DNA, on the other hand, is able to conveniently escape the peculiar corporate suffering that has been the long witness of a continual divine pursuit that does not end till ‘that day’, the day of the Lord.

Due to its obscurity, this genetic connection is also able to escape Satan’s persecuting attentions. Shall we believe that it has only now been discovered, just in time to distinguish itself by its beliefs and its teachers for such a time as this? I don’t think so! It all smacks of pride to even look, or need to look, for some distinction that is other (for how could it be more?) of the inheritance of all things that is secured to even ‘the least of these’ who put simple faith and trust in Christ, and worship God in the Spirit with no confidence in the flesh.

What person from any nation could possibly profit by being distinguished as a descendant from one of the tribes that were taken into captivity by Assyria in the 8th century B.C.? Who needs it? According to Paul in many places, such a thing would count for nothing (Gal 6:15). It is pride to even investigate the evidence one way or the other. Even if it were true, it’s the last thing the flesh could need. All such vanity should rather be fled than pursued.

Therefore, in all simplicity, the only requirement, which is no small requirement, is that one be born again. This requires no prior virtue, since there isn’t any acceptable virtue outside of Christ, and nor any advantage through physical descent, except as God has determined before the world began to bring certain ones to faith. For that very cause, and to give His election a visible outward form for the sake of instruction, Israel exists in a visible way as an unbelieving nation precisely to make that demonstration through them, not on the basis of works but of Him who calls (Ro 9:11).

As also their special discipline is a reminder that whether in faith or unbelief, the covenant of both requirement and promise remains with them, as they show through their history the fearful truth of Jesus’ dictum that to whom much has been given (privilege, gift, stewardship), much more is required.

Obviously, or what should be obvious, regardless of belonging to a called and set apart nation, there is no personal benefit of the blessing of the covenant, or the inheritance of the New Covenant unless one is born again. Instead, there is only the special liability and exposure to covenant wrath if a Jew is NOT born again. I don’t see this special discipline on gentiles in general, as I would certainly expect if they belonged to the elect seed of either of the houses of Israel.

It is impossible to be “in Christ” and not also be “in Israel”. That’s why it is only in Him, the One seed, that the promises are yea and amen, nowhere else. This is only remedied through the new birth, nothing else. I see the church as ‘the Israel within Israel’ in continuity with the remnant according to the election of grace and the elect of all ages. To be newly revealed does not mean that the church is newly existent. The body of Christ exists wheresoever the Spirit indwells a believer, as it was nothing less than “the Spirit of Christ” who was “IN” the saints and prophets of old (1Pet 1:11). As Jesus would reprimand Nicodemus for his failure as a teacher to recognize that it is only by the Spirit that the nation will one day be born in a day in order to inherit the kingdom of God, how then could it be any different for the individual? So the new birth and the indwelling of the Spirit is not new, though its eternal basis in the blood of the everlasting covenant has come more fully to light in Christ.

In short, it is the new birth that holds together the whole redemptive drama. The physical-visible side of the promises only serve to underscore its necessity. The promise is not made on the basis of any virtue or natural advantage where the physical descendants of Abraham are concerned, obviously, and that’s precisely the point. Israel exists to destroy all boasting, simply because Israel exists (as a set apart, visible, corporate entity) to show the sovereignty of God’s electing grace in a people prone always to wander and slide back from the high standard that cannot be met except by the Spirit of Christ, who is only given on the basis of the holy exchange and imputation, which had its operation through the Spirit even before the mystery of how this would be accomplished, and its eternal basis in the blood of Christ would be revealed.

Since the revelation of the mystery of the gospel, there has been a notable change in the stewardship of responsibility, and this recognition of dispensational change does not make one a dispensationalist, of course, but all schools of thought, if they are Christian, will necessarily recognize a dispensational distinction of some kind. Since the revelation of the mystery, identification with Israel is no more through circumcision or any other such thing. That is why the gentile believer has been loosed from these things. “For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law” (Heb 7:12). If this were not so, the freedoms that the Jerusalem council pronounced for gentile believers would have been a breach, not merely of Jewish custom, but the stewardship of responsibility enjoined on everyone living under that dispensation.

The identification is in the Spirit of Christ. That is why one born of the Spirit should be more burdened and touched with what touches Israel, even in its unbelief, than even the natural Jew or home born Israeli. Israel is not be made jealous because we keep all the laws they do, but because, quite conspicuously apart from Kosher observance and the works of the law, the light and love of Israel shines through believing gentile faces towards all men, but most appropriately to the Jew first. This is God’s leverage to reason with His disobedient but no less elect people that the promised Spirit is received not through the law but through faith.

We must not rob God of this very leverage of demonstration by seeking to accommodate ourselves to any human presumption that suggests that Christ is not sufficient, or that His / the Spirit’s work depends on anything in man or that man can do. This is the upshot of NT revelation as I understand it: The only thing that God can accept is what He does in us and through us by His Spirit (Gal 6:15), not as a means unto but as the sure results of an already secured salvation, even the salvation of the everlasting covenant promised to Israel and received by whosoever will in Christ.

Again, to be in Christ is to be in Israel. No outward forms are its proof but the new heart, which, of course, will show itself in love and good works. Hence, you need not become anything other than a Christian in order to receive all things and full identification with Israel, and not the Israel of God only, but also the Israel that is in pain to be delivered for whom we travel till Christ be formed in them, since it is only in them, as a distinct ethnic race in the earth, that the covenant of grace will be finally and openly vindicated in the sight of all nations.

This is the clear teaching of the NT. We tend to complicate it: In Him are all things and He is the head and we are complete in Him. It’s that simple. To be in Christ is, in a sense, to be ‘already there’ seated with Him in heaven, being already delivered from this ‘present age’ (Gal 1:4), enjoying even now the first-fruits of the kingdom and foretaste of the “powers of the age to come” (Heb 6:5).

What I’d really like to talk about, and what I’m writing about occasionally, is the glories of the everlasting covenant that Christ has made sure to every believer now, as He will to ‘all Israel’ in that day. When we’re in Him, its a sealed deal. When we’re in Him, we’re automatically in both houses! We don’t need to sweat which house we belong to. We’re in His house forever! Where else is there?

I close with this admonition and warning to us all, which I suspect may be most especially applicable in these discussions:

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Chris (2Cor 11:3).

In brotherly love, Reggie

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