Feb 27, 2026
It should be no secret that before Israel’s final deliverance at the Lord’s return to Zion (Isa 59:20; Joel 3:16; Ro 11:26), the fledgling new nation, recently regathered back to the Land, yet in a state of unbelief (Jer 30:3; Eze 22:19-22; 38:8; Joel 3:1-2; Zeph 2:1-2) would pass through their greatest trial as a nation.
Jeremiah would call this time of unequalled tribulation, “the time of Jacob’s trouble” compared to a woman in labor (Jer 30:6-7). Daniel would call it “a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time”, and Jesus would cite Daniel’s prophecy using nearly the same words, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Mt 24:21).
This time would come in the “latter days” (Jer 30:24; Eze 38:16; Dan 10:14; 12:1), not only after a single generation of 70 years, as prophesied by Jeremiah (Jer 25:11-12; 29:10), but this time after “many generations” of Jewish absence and perpetual desolation of the Land” (Isa 61:4; Eze 36:4; 38:8).
After this preliminary return in unbelief, but before the great, unparalleled trouble, several verses in the OT mention a dangerously deceptive false peace that would compromise Israel’s vigilance and be broken by the sudden and unexpected invasion of the last aggressor, called by several names in scripture but commonly known as the man of lawlessness or the Antichrist.
Much could be said about this false peace that Isaiah calls Israel’s ill-fated “covenant with death and hell” (Isa 28:15, 18 with Eze 38:8, 11, 14; 39:26; Dan 9:27; 11:23; 1Thes 5:3), but until very recently, any realistic prospect of peace, even the illusion of peace, seemed an elusive, unrealistic dream.
But since the advent of the “Abrahamic Accords”, and now with what appears the neutralization of the Iranian threat, a new unified partnership for peace has emerged that has put the unlikely dream into realistic reach. This is unprecedented!
In 1Thes 5:3, Paul makes this statement that is familiar to the readers of the NT:
“For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”
Since the context shows that this false illusion of security will be the sign that the day of the Lord is imminent (1Thes 5:2-3), it would seem quite certain that Paul has in mind the false peace that the Hebrew prophets said would precede the great trouble ending in the everywhere mentioned day of the Lord (Jer 30:7; Eze 39:8, 22-29; Dan 12:1-2).
So what does this imply for the church?
Does the church have a stewardship of responsibility to use the miracle of fulfilled prophecy to explain the meaning of the final world crisis foretold to erupt in the Mideast over the question of the Jew, the land, and the city of Jerusalem, called by the prophets, “the controversy of Zion” (Isa 34:8; Zech 12:2-3)?
Paul calls the church “the pillar and ground of the truth”. (1Tim 3:15). That’s a tall order, and it implies that the church is God’s prophetic voice of witness in the earth in “those days” (Mt 24:19, 22, 29), as Daniel says,
“but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many … and turn many to righteousness” (Dan 11:32-33; 12:3) during the final greatest persecution of the church and Israel (Dan 7:21, 25; 11:24; Rev 12:6, 11, 14; 13:7; 20:9).
It will be the church’s finest hour because, according to Dan 11:32-33; 12:3; Mt 24:14; with Rev 7:9, 13-14; 11:2-3; 12:11; 14:6), the time of the greatest trouble (“the tribulation the great”) will also be the time of the greatest harvest of souls in all of history.
To that end, I offer this brief quote from G. H. Lang (beloved mentor of F. F. Bruce) from his, “The Histories and Prophecies of Daniel”:
“When this agreement shall have been confirmed, the wise will know that the final seven 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 fullness that the knowledge of prophetic scripture is simply priceless.”
