THE prominence of the land of
Egypt in the news of what some have called the ‘war of survival,’ is doubtless
reminding millions of the part that Egypt played in ancient times in connection with
God’s chosen people of Israel. Egypt, the Red Sea, the ancient Arabian deserts
beyond; then Palestine’the ‘Promised Land”all bear eloquent testimony to
the accuracy of the geographical background of Biblical narratives and prophecies. The
fact that these parts of the world are now again coming into such prominence should itself
be stimulating to reflective thought; and especially So when we realize that according to
the prophecies this was to be the case at the end of the age’or, as the Bible puts
it, the ‘latter days,’ the ‘last days.”Ezekiel 38:8,16 Isaiah 2:2
Micah 4:1 2 Timothy 3:1.
Turning our minds back briefly to the days of Old
Egypt, we recall that through a peculiar combination of circumstances the people of Israel
found themselves enslaved in that country, and cruelly oppressed by Pharaoh, the king. The
Israelites are not enslaved in the Egypt today, but they are enslaved and oppressed in
other parts of the world, particularly in Europe. And now, even as then, this oppression
has become So burdensome that unless relief is forthcoming from some quarter, the very
existence of this ancient people is threatened. It has been reported that under the Nazi
regime in Europe already two million Jews have been slaughtered. But, just as historically
recorded, deliverance came to Israel as a result of divine intervention on their behalf;
So now, the prophecies indicate divine intervention is to be the final solution of the
Jewish problem. Note what the prophet says on this point. We quote:
‘Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the
Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of
Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of
Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and
I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. Behold, I will
send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for
many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out
of the holes of the rocks.”Jeremiah 16:14- 16.
That this foretold regathering of Israel could not
refer to anything that has occurred in the past is apparent from the fact that the most
prominent place from which they are said to be gathered is the ‘land of the
north.’ This is the land north of Palestine, and refers to the countries of Europe,
perhaps Russia in particular, where such large numbers of them are now domiciled. The
Bible shows that on several occasions in ancient times the people of Israel were driven
out of their land; but at no time was there such a world- wide scattering of the Jews,
particularly into the ‘north country,’ until A.D. 70 and thereafter, when
Jerusalem was destroyed by the romans, and the people dispersed.
It is important too, to know that time prophecies of
the Bible have a vital bearing on the present experiences of the Jews. One of these
prophecies pertains to a period described by Jesus as the ‘times of the
Gentiles.’ {Luke 21:24} Jesus said that during this period Jerusalem would be trodden
down of the Gentiles. The Old Testament gives the length of punishment upon the Jews as
being ‘seven times.’ {Leviticus 26:18,21, 24,28} Prophetically, a
‘time’ is a period of 360 years. Seven times, therefore, would be 2520 years.
The Jewish nation began to be trodden down of the Gentiles in the year 606 B.C., when
their last king, Zedekiah, was overthrown and taken captive to Babylon. Since then the
Jews have had no national independence; the nearest thing to it being the privileges they
have enjoyed in Palestine as a people since the First World War.
2,520 years from 606 B.C. brings us to the memorable
date of 1914, the year when the first World War stated. It will be recalled that in that
war the British drove the Turks out of the Holy Land, and that at the peace table the Jews
were given the right to return there under a protecting mandate later given to the British
by the League of Nations. This outstanding development, following So quickly the
expiration of the Gentile Times, should awaken us to a desire to investigate further the
prophecies pertaining to the full restoration of Israel, and of world events associated
therewith.
The treading down of the Jews by the Gentiles came
officially to an end through the League of Nations’ recognition of their right to
occupy Palestine and to consider it their home country. This recognition came as a result
of developments that began in 1914, which was the end of the gentile Times. The fact that
the Jews are still persecuted does not argue against the fact that the time has come for
them to receive God’s favor, and to be restored as a people to the land of their
fathers. Indeed, the very fact that they are now being So bitterly persecuted in Europe is
very much in line with the prophecies which portray their lot in these ‘latter
days.’
In the prophecy of Jeremiah 16, already quoted, the
Lord tells us that He would send ‘fishers’ and ‘hunters among His people to
induce their return to the Promised Land. The ‘fisher’ method of obtaining
results is through the use of bait. For many years the World Zionist Movement has been
offering inducements for the Jews to go to Palestine and make that country their home.
This has accomplished some results. The latest
reports indicate that 500,000 have already returned. And, in spite of the hazards of war,
and the desire of the British not to openly offend the Arabs, Jews Revelation still
trickling back to Palestine.
But the ‘fisher’ method is not causing them
to return in sufficient numbers, So the ‘hunters’ are used. The hunting method
is usually one of force, and seems to well illustrate the severe persecution now upon that
unhappy people throughout Europe. Certainly they are thereby being made to realize that
Europe is no place for them. And while, just at present, they are not able to go to
Palestine in any considerable numbers, it seems quite probably that a change will come
about permitting them later to return there in numbers far exceeding anything we have yet
witnessed. But the main point we wish to establish here is that prophetically further
trouble was to come upon the Jews even after God’s favor began to return to them.
Another prophecy substantiating this fact is that of Jeremiah 3):3, 5, 11. We quote:
‘For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I
will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will
cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess
it...For thus saith the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of
peace....For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all
nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will
correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.’
It will be noticed from this prophecy that the very
time when God would ‘cause’ the Jews to return to their own land, it would be
for them a time of ‘fear and trembling, and not of peace.’ Evidently one reason
for this is the manner in which they are caused to return. As we have seen, they were to
be hunted; and do not hunters always cause fear and trembling on the part of the
hunted’ Another reason given by the Lord for the present trouble of the Jews is that
thereby they are being corrected; and because they need this correction, the Lord says
that He will not leave them altogether unpunished.
Another remarkable prophecy depicting the present
experiences of the Jews, as they relate to present world events, is that of Joel 3:1,2,9-
12 . This prophecy reads as follows:
‘For, behold, in those days, and in that time,
when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, 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....Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up
the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
Beat your plowshares into swords, and your
pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come,
all ye heathen [nations], and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy
mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen [nations] be wakened, and come up to the
valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen [nations] round
about.”Leeser translates ‘heathen,’ ‘nations,’ both of which are
the same in the original language, Hebrew and Chaldee.
The main point to notice in this prophecy is that
when the time comes for the regathering of Israel to the Land of Promise, it would be
associated with a warlike gathering of all the Gentile nations. The prophecy also shows
that some of these nations would try to prevent Israel from holding possession of the
land, and that because of this god would plead against them on behalf of His people.
Later, we will call attention to prophecies which
will show how and when this pleading is to be done.
That the present gathering and arming of the nations
is fulfilling this prophecy there can be little doubt. Note the circumstances: It is said
that the nations would beat their plowshares into swords, and their pruninghooks into
spears. This, of course, is ancient language, but it is very descriptive, nevertheless, of
the present efforts of all nations to convert all possible peace- time material and
equipment into munitions of war. This is being done by all the nations on both sides of
the world line- up. We mention it here merely to identify the fulfilment, of this
prophecy. When we see this fulfilment, and see the foretold position of the Jews in
connection with it, surely our confidence in the accuracy of prophecy should be greatly
increased.
There are two other prophecies in the Bible
concerning swords and plowshares, and both present a peaceful attitude of the nations.
They are recorded in Micah 4:1- 4 and Isaiah 2:1- 4. They also pertain to the ‘latter
days,’ or ‘last days,’ but take us a little way into the future from now,
and describe conditions among the nations following the full restoration of Israel to the
Promised Land, and their incorporation into the Kingdom of Christ now due to be
established. Again we quote from Micah:
‘In the last days it shall come to pass, that
the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains,
.... and people shall flow unto it.
And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let
us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will
teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the people, and rebuke
strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their
spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig
tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken
it.’
Thus does the Lord tell us about the final outcome of
it all, but intervening are still many prophecies to be fulfilled; prophecies which,
nevertheless, are reaching a fulfilment rapidly in the fast moving events of the present
time. It will help us appreciate the prophetic picture more, if we now consider briefly
another divine forecast pertaining to Bible chronology, or time as it relates to the plan
of God. It has to do with Israel’s long centuries of special favor from the Lord, and
a foretold corresponding period of disfavor mentioned in the prophecies as a
‘double.’
This ‘double’ period of punishment upon
Israel is referred to three times in the prophecies. Jeremiah 16:18 speaks of it as a
punishment that must ‘first’ be visited upon them before they could be restored
permanently to their own land’ Zechariah 9:9,12, in a prophecy concerning the time
when Jesus rode into Jerusalem upon an ass, identifies the time when this double would
begin to count; and Isaiah 40:2, tells of the time when the ‘double’ is
completed. Isaiah’s reference to the double is in connection with the prophecy of
their restoration, and of the fact that the Lord would send ‘fishers’ and
‘hunters’ among them to cause them to return to their own land.
This time prophecy of the ‘double’ is a
comparatively easy one to understand.
Bible chronology indicates that from the time of
Jacob’s death’when God began to deal with his children as a nation’to the
death of Jesus’which Zechariah indicates to be the middle of the double
period’was a period of 1845 years.
Counting that many years from A.D. 33 when Jesus was
crucified, brings us to the year 1878. Someone may be quick to say that the Jews were not
restored to their land in 1878, hence that this calculation must be wrong.
But we should remember the year A.D. 33 did not see
the dispersion of Israel from the land of Palestine, either. What actually occurred at the
time of Jesus’ death is the clue as to what we should expect in 1878. What did occur
there was the beginning of their downfall. Just five days before His death, Jesus said of
the house of Israel, ‘Your house is left unto you desolate.’ {Matthew 23:38 Luke
13:35 John 12:1,12- 16} But it was actually 36 1/2 years after that pronouncement before
Jerusalem was destroyed and the Israelites scattered.
There was, then, this 36 1/2 year period of decline.
In keeping with this, the date of 1878 would seem to
mark the beginning of God’s returning favor to the Jews; and there is abundant
evidence that this actually occurred; for it was in that very year, 1878, that Lord
Beaconsfield, also known as Benjamin Disraeli, then Prime Minister of England’himself
a Jew’presided over the Berlin Congress of Nations, and was able to obtain certain
concession and favors for the Jews in Palestine, which they had been denied for centuries
and as long as it was under the Turkish rule. And since that notable instance of the
return of favor to the Jew in connection with his homeland, through the years, the
question of Palestine as a homeland for the Jews has become an issue of more and more
prominence.
Since 1897, when it was organized by Theodore Herzl,
the ZIONIST movement has grown in strength and purpose, and today it is employed in the
task of developing the natural resources of Palestine, which conservative estimates
indicate is capable of supporting from two to four million more inhabitants than are now
there. The opportunity for the Jews to return in such large numbers and the rapid progress
that has been made in the development there since, has all come about through the First
World War, beginning in 1914; for it was the war that wrested the control of Palestine
from the Turkish Government, making possible all the changes that have since taken place
there. As there was a 36 1/2 year period during which favor was receding from Israel, So
there has been this 36 1/2 year period when the sunshine of favor has been gradually more
and more manifested toward them. Thirty- six and one half years from 1878 brings us to the
year 1914; and as we have already seen, it was as a result of the war that began in that
year, that Palestine was made available as a homeland for the Jews.
History indicates that even the year A.D. 70, which
was the year marking the end of the 36 1/2 years of decline and in which, after a siege
which lasted more than three years, beginning in 66 A.D., Jerusalem was destroyed by the
Roman army under Titus, did not mark the complete end of suffering and desolation that
still awaited the distraught Jews. For it was not until A.D. 73 that all Judea was
subjugated, according to the Jewish historian, Josephus. If we add these three years to
1914, it brings us to the year 1917, when the British army with its allies, the Arabs,
wrested control of Palestine from the Turk; and in 1918, with the cessation of
hostilities, and the subsequent treaty of Versailles, the Balfour Declaration on behalf of
the Jews of Palestine actually went into effect. These correspondences surely are more
than merely coincidental, for they disclose God’s purpose in connection with the
reestablishment of His ancient people in the land He promised them would some time in the
future be theirs; and that time, it seems clear to the eye of faith, is now.
Naturally, it is of interest to determine from the
prophecies as clearly as we can, what may be expected to occur among the Jews between now
and the time that the Kingdom is fully established. Details of prophecies cannot be
understood prior to their fulfilment, but the Bible does make it plain that the Jews are
to experiences a great deal more of severe trouble before their eyes are fully open to
what God is doing for them, and that Jesus, whom they pierced more than nineteen centuries
ago, is truly their Messiah. This final trouble upon them is prophetically described by
Jeremiah as ‘Jacob’s trouble.”Jer. 30:7
Jeremiah’s reference to ‘Jacob’s
trouble,’ associates it with the regathering of Israel to Palestine, and harmonizes
with what we have already noted; namely that this regathering would be accompanied by much
distress and persecution upon the Jews. The events of recent years are in full harmony
with this prophetic pattern. But to our understanding ‘Jacob’s trouble’
will mark the climax of these experiences. It is God’s way of describing a final
assault by aggressor nations that will be made against Israel regathered in Palestine, and
dwelling there safely and prosperously.
Some of the details of ‘Jacob’s
trouble’ are outlined in Ezekiel 38. In verse 8, addressing the leaders of the
aggression against restored Israel, the prophet says, ‘After many days thou shalt be
visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the
sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have
been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely
all of them.’ Verse 11 continues: ‘And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land
of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them
dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates.’
While 500,000 Jews have already gone to Palestine,
and large areas of that once ‘waste’ land have already been reclaimed, is yet it
would seem from the foregoing preview of events that there is yet to be a much larger
regathering of Israel, before the final phase of trouble will come upon them. The
statement, ‘in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back
from the sword,’ might indicate that in the present struggle of the nations much
fighting maybe done in and around Palestine, yet it will not be Jacob’s trouble. If
this be true, and the land is ‘brought back from the sword,’ it would mean a
short period of peace following the present World War, and that, at the peace table, an
attempt will be made to solve the Jewish problem, by insisting that they all go to
Palestine’t hat is, all the Jews in the beleaguered countries; for it would be
difficult to support the 15,000,000 or more Jews throughout the world in that small area
of Palestine. Pastor Russell wrote, on page 554 of The Battle of Armageddon,
‘Apparently some pressure will suddenly be brought to bear upon the nations which
will result thus favorably to Israel, So fulfill the above prophecy of Ezekiel.’
In considering details of events yet future it is not
wise to be dogmatic. The Prophet Ezekiel does, however, give quite a detailed description
of how Jacob’s trouble will develop against restored Israel. Commenting on Ezekiel
38:1- 13, Pastor Russell, years ago, wrote:
‘In Ezekiel’s prophecy (38:1- 13) the Lord
names the chief actors in the struggle in Palestine; but we may not be too positive in our
identifications. Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Gomar, Togomar, Javan and Tarshish were names of
children of Noah’s son Japheth’supposed to be the original settles of Europe.
Sheba and Dedan were descendants of Noah’s son, Ham’supposed to be the original
settles of Northern Africa. Abraham and his posterity (Israel) were descendants of
Noah’s son, Shem, and are supposed to have settled Armenia ‘Western Asia.
{See Genesis 10:2- 7} This would seem to indicate in a general way that the attach
will come from Europe’the ‘north quarters”with allied mixed peoples.”
-
, page 556.
The various groups thus described by the Prophet
Ezekiel as the ones who will be participants in ‘Jacob’s trouble,’ are now
actively participating in the present struggle of the nations, but it seems reasonable
that there may be a lull in the present storm, during which Israel will occupy Palestine
in greater numbers and will become even more prosperous there than they are now. But the
hatred of the Jew now So manifest in Europe, and the lust for wealth and power on the part
of the aggressors, impoverished by their vast expenditures in their war efforts, will
still exist. This can easily lead later to the march against the holy land which will
represent the final phase of Armageddon. It will be in this struggle that divine power
will be manifested for the deliverance of Israel’not however, until they have been
severely chastised.
Zechariah 14:1- 3 12- 15, indicates that the Jews
will suffer greatly before divine intervention comes on their behalf. The city shall be
taken, the women ravis hed and the houses rifled. There is to be great confusion among the
attacking armies, and even ‘Juda shall fight.’ In the marginal translation it
says that Judah shall fight against Jerusalem, as though even the Jews themselves will
become confused with the terror that shall come upon them. Leeser’s translation also
gives this thought. Whether the Jews fight for or against Jerusalem, this final trouble
upon them will be severe.
But finally divine power will assert itself’
‘Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in
the day of battle.’ {Zechariah 14:3} Joel 3:2 declares, as we have already noted,
that God will plead with the nations on behalf of His people Israel. In Ezekiel 38:22, 23,
the prophet tells us how this pleading will be done, and what the result will be. We
quote: ‘Ezek 38:22 ‘And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood;
and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him,
an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus will I magnify
Myself, and sanctify Myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they
shall know that I am the Lord.’
All the prophecies dealing with this final phase of
Armageddon, prophetically described as ‘Jacob’s trouble,’ indicate that as
a result of divine intervention at its close, the eyes of Israel, as well as the eyes of
all nations, will be opened to behold the glory of the Lord. Zechariah 14:16- 21 shows
that this divine intervention will result in the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom,
and that all nations including those which attacked Israel, will have to fall into line
with the divine order, or else be deprived of the blessings of the Kingdom.
The blessings of that divine Kingdom will not,
however be merely economic.
Zechariah 14:8,9 declares that then ‘living
waters shall go out from Jerusalem,’ and that in that day ‘the Lord shall be
King over all the earth.’ These ‘living waters’ are mentioned in Revelation
22:1,2, and here we are told that the leaves of the tress which grow beside the river of
life will be for ‘the healing of the nations.’ How much the nations will need
healing; and how glad the people will then be that divine wisdom and power has solved the
age- long problem of selfishness which they could not solve for themselves.
The life- giving blessings of the new Kingdom will
not be meted out in any ‘half measure’ proportions. They will be all- inclusive.
Even the dead are to be restored to life, meaning that the millions who have died in the
Armageddon struggle, both Jews and Gentiles, will be brought back and given an opportunity
to participate in the blessings purchased for them by the redemptive work of Jesus.
{Ezekiel 16:55- 63} What a happy ending this will be to six thousand years of sin,
suffering and death. Let us continue to pray for that divine Kingdom.
Another prophecy depicting the blessings of
Messiah’ Kingdom is that of Isaiah 29:23,2 18th verse read, ‘And in that day
shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of
obscurity, and out of darkness.’
By this symbolic language we are assured that the
truth pertaining to God’s plan and will for the people, both Jews and Gentiles, will
be made plain, the ‘book’ of divine revelation will then be opened for all the
read and understand.
The result of this opening of the ‘book’ is
described in the prophecy of Zephaniah 3:9, where we are told that the Lord will turn to
the people a pure language, under the influence of which they will all call upon His name
to serve Him with one consent. Thus we see that the pagan religion of the Nazis,
engendering race hatred, persecution, and aggression, will be destroyed, and all will
learn to know and to worship Jehovah, the true and living Go d.
Verse 19 of Isaiah 29, reads, ‘The meek also
shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One
of Israel.’ What a blessed promise! The ‘meek’ of the earth have usually
been at a great disadvantage and have suffered at the hands of the arrogant and
domineering. But how different it will be in ‘that day.’ Concerning it another
prophet says, ‘He [the Messiah] shall judge the poor of the people, He shall save the
children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.”Psalm 72:4.
With the oppressors and persecutors of the earth set
aside, the promise of Isaiah 29:22 and 23 will be fulfilled, to the great rejoicing of
Israel and of the whole world. We quote: ‘Therefore thus saith the Lord, who redeemed
Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his
face now wax pale. But when he seeth his children, the work of Mine hands, in the midst of
him, they shall sanctify My name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the
God of Israel.’
This is a remarkable prophecy. It speaks both of the
‘house of Jacob’ and of ‘Jacob.’ It declares that ‘Jacob’
shall see his ‘children”his house. It is more, therefore, than a promise to
restore and bless the present living generation of Israelites. In addition to this, it is
an assurance that even Jacob himself will be raised from death, and mingle with his people
and with them enjoy the blessings of Messiah’s Kingdom.
It says of Jacob that his face shall not then
‘wax pale.’ This is another way of saying that when brought back from death, it
will not be necessary for him to again grow old and die. This will be true, not only of
Jacob, but of the whole house of Israel’yea, of all mankind. One of the main purposes
of Messiah’s Kingdom is to destroy sickness and death, hence of those who obey the
divine laws of justice and righteousness will never die.’ John 11:25, 26.
And there will then be no question as to what
constitutes the divine will, for, as we have seen, the ‘book’ will be open. In
Isaiah 35:8 we are told that the way will then be made So plain that the ‘wayfaring
men, though fools, shall not err therein.’ Isaiah 29:24 declares, ‘They also
that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn
doctrine.’
The extent to which the people, both Jews and
Gentiles, have ‘erred in spirit’ is apparent when we think of the hundreds of
conflicting opinions and interpretations of religion by which earth’s multitudes are
divided into as many opposing groups. But all this will be changed by the administration
of Messiah’s Kingdom, for then the knowledge of the Lord will be caused to fill the
earth as the waters cover the sea.’ Hab. 2:14.
And this true knowledge of God will become deep-
rooted in the consciences of the people. In Jeremiah 31:31- 34, we are told about it. Here
the promise is that God will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of
Judah.
Concerning it He says, ‘I will put My law in
their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their god, and they shall be
My people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother,
saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the
greatest of them saith the Lord.’
In Ezekiel 16:60- 63, there is another reference to
the covenant the Lord will establish with the house of Israel, and in this prophecy is
revealed the further fact that Gentile nations also are to share in its benefits.
God’s promise to Abraham was that through His seed ‘all families of the
earth’ were to be blessed.
{Genesis 12:1- 3} The spiritual seed of Abraham is
Christ and the church of this Gospel age. But there is a natural seed also, which will be
the restored house of Israel, and God’s covenant with them will be extended to
include all the Gentiles who will then avail themselves of its provisions.
What a wonderful prospect of blessings to come is
thus given us in the Word of God!
