The final regathering takes place when Jesus returns with His saints, the Church, in Revelation 19 and comes to fight the Battle of Armageddon. But in the meantime, as Israel is mere months away from celebrating 70 years back in the Land, Israel is living as Jacob. And that's not good.
"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. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them." Jeremiah 30:7-9 (KJV)
One of the greatest prophetic verses in the Bible on the upcoming 7-year 'great tribulation' from Matthew 24 is found in the book of Jeremiah. It talks about the patriarch of the nation of Israel, Jacob, in the days when Antichrist will besiege God's people one last time. Jeremiah reassures of that Jacob will be saved out of his trouble. Only thing is, when Jeremiah wrote his book, Jacob's name had been changed, by God, to Israel, for about 600 years.
Have you ever wondered why Jeremiah doesn't say "...but Israel shall be saved out of it"? God did it this way on purpose to show you how the regathered nation of Israel will exist at the time the "trouble' begins in the days after the Rapture of the Church. Let's look at one more thing in Revelation before I explain.
When the Two Witnesses, Moses and Elijah, finish their awesome preaching in Revelation 11, the Bible says that God allows Antichrist to then publically kill them both as the world watches.
"And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth." Revelation 11:8-10 (KJV)
The part of those passages I want to direct your attention to is the odd name that God refers to Jerusalem by. He calls Jerusalem - the place where He put His own Name - by 'Sodom and Egypt' in a reference to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 13:10. Ouch, that's harsh, putting Jerusalem on the same level as Sodom. But it is also why Jeremiah says 'Jacob' and not 'Israel'. Let me explain.
When Israel was regathered officially on May 14th, 1948, it was a partial fulfillment of God's promise to regather His people the Jews from the four corners of the Earth. I say partial because in the time of Jacob's trouble, the Jews will be driven out one last time. Don't believe it? Jesus promises it will happen.
"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:" Matthew 24:15,16 (KJV)
The final regathering takes place when Jesus returns with His saints, the Church, in Revelation 19 and comes to fight the Battle of Armageddon. But in the meantime, as Israel is mere months away from celebrating 70 years back in the Land, Israel is living as Jacob. And that's not good.
God did a great miracle right after WWII, and allowed His people
the Jews to officially return to the Land which was renamed by its old name of Israel. Many Jews at the time considered it a fulfillment of Bible prophecy and on many levels it was. But here in 2017, God and the Bible receive nothing more than lip service from the Jewish people and its government. Tel Aviv has been crowned the "gay capital of the world", they live no different from any other modern nation in the world today.
This is the Israel that Jeremiah saw in his prophecy, he saw Jacob whom the Bible called a deceiver, typifying the nation as a whole. This is what God is calling our attention to. Israel goes into the captivity of Antichrist because of their refusal to turn to the LORD and repent of their ways. This is the whole reason for the time of Jacob's trouble, it is Israel's last cleansing. Yes, the Tribulation will be worldwide, but the focus will be on the Jews and Israel. Where does Antichrist place his headquarters? He puts it in Jerusalem. Now you know why God refers to it as 'Sodom and Egypt' during that time period.
I take a lot of abuse from people because of my stand for Israel and the Jewish people. Many detractors are quick to point out the many ways that Israel is against God and the Bible. To a degree, they're correct. But what those critics fail to understand is that it is because of Israel's rebellion that the time of Jacob's trouble starts. And in the end, when all is said and done, Israel has been brought through the "furnace of affliction" and restored to a right relationship with the LORD.
I don't support Israel for where they are now, as a Bible believer I know that a Holocaust a thousand times worse than Hitler's is coming straight for them. I support the Jews and Israel for who God sees that they will be when it's all said and done. I know how the game ends, and I am betting by faith on the winning team right here and now before the battle even begins.
One day, in that Day, Jacob will once again be seen by God as Israel, as Paul our apostle tells us.
"For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins." Romans 11:25-27 (KJV)
Look at how Paul refers to Israel in the day they are restored, he says that 'Jacob' is turned away from his ungodliness. Paul saw exactly what Jeremiah saw, and records it exactly the same way.
Now you know why it's called the time of Jacob's trouble.
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