Israel and the Jews | TheLastDays

It may come as a shock to some Christians who think that Israel has been supplanted by the Church, but the final outcome of the Last Days will be a glorious restoration of God’s first chosen people. The Bible is filled with prophecies describing this still future destiny for the Jews and Jerusalem. Let us remember that Jesus Himself is a Jewish man and will be so forever. That is by His choice. So, let us watch over our Jewish brethren worldwide with prayer and great care as the Lord works through the terrible events of the Tribulation to break down the dividing walls separating His Jewish Bride from Himself.

I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means!... Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved. Romans 11:1, 25-26

All scripture citations are from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise noted.

Chief Characteristics

Whole books are written about most of these crucial components. These characteristics are summaries of what is grounded in scripture, not fabricated through speculation.[1] Speculation is trying to “see” more than we are being shown. What we see by Biblical revelation is real enough, but a fuller view will only come as these still distant components draw nearer.

The greatest obstacle for gentile Christians in understanding God’s relationship with the Jews and Israel lies in thinking that there is only one covenant—the “Old Covenant.” The first mistake is in supposing that the whole of the Hebrew scriptures is one covenant and secondly, that the covenant somehow got old. After all, the Christian scriptures are usually called the New Testament and they contain the New Covenant, so it is easy to reverse the titles and flip the Old Covenant and the Old Testament into irrelevance. Adding to the confusion, some even refer to the whole of the Hebrew scriptures as the Old Covenant—a glaring error. Unfortunately, there has also been a lot of preaching around this that focuses on the covenant made at Sinai where the Law was given as if that were the whole deal. The Law (the Sinai covenant) is then stood up against the Gospel in a winner take all fight to the death. Guess which one wins?

In point of fact, the Gospel has law in it and the Law (if by that we mean the whole of the Hebrew scriptures) had tons of gospel quality grace in it. Not only that but Jesus even said that He didn’t come to abolish the Law (the Sinai covenant). He came to fulfill it. By a reasonable parallel, we can affirm that He didn’t come to abolish His ties to the Jewish people—the previous covenants—but to fulfill them! The Law was only one of those previous covenants. Although it clearly has been repositioned by the Gospel (in some way none of us can totally agree about), it certainly has not been abolished. Or is murder, thieving, and adultery now OK? It is generally agreed, however, that portions of the Law have been set aside (the dietary codes for instance), but there is nothing about the Gospel that has altered any of the other covenants with the Jewish people.

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Matthew 5:17

The covenant with Noah is only the first of five major covenants contained in the Hebrew scriptures. That may be news to some, but it should be good news for all of us because it shows how determined our God is to reconnect with His lost children. Covenants were a common form of legal contract in the ancient world which spelled out rights and responsibilities of the two parties being brought together. Curiously, our word for religion comes from a Latin root meaning to re-bind (re-ligare) as a ligament is bound to a bone. Two disconnected parts that had previously been connected are brought back together and held in place. The binding quality of covenants, ratified with oaths or with blood, held the parties in place.

1. The Covenant with Noah

Right out of the starting gate we run headlong into yet another surprise. The first covenant given by God was not given to the Jews. What? It’s right there in the Hebrew scriptures—their scriptures. That’s true, but they weren’t around to receive it. The only people living on the earth in Noah’s day (and for many centuries afterward) were Gentiles. That’s the Bible’s word for anyone who isn’t a Jew. The phrase “the Gentiles” always refers to the non-Jewish ethnic groups that fill the earth. Without getting into the dates, Noah was the ninth generation after Adam. Abraham came along eleven generations later. Since the Jewish people only came into being through Abraham, the covenant with Noah couldn’t possibly have been given to them. Who then was it given to? It was given to us![2] That’s us there in the pages of the “Old Covenant.” We are the first people on earth that God made a covenant with. Indeed, it is the only covenant God ever made with us (the Gentiles). Let that sink in. It will come up again later.

This gets deeper. The covenant with Noah was never even intended for the Jewish people. We are shown exactly how this happened. After the debacle of the tower of Babel, God disavowed His personal involvement with us (the Gentile “nations” or ethnic groups of the earth) and placed us under the authority of the angelic beings who made up His divine council, usually called in scripture “the sons of God.” Jesus, of course, is the eternal, unbegotten Son. These were created beings of a much higher rank than “angels” (a name that signifies mere messengers). Having passed us on to subordinates in Genesis Chapter 11, the Lord immediately set about calling Abraham in Chapter 12. Because the Jewish people came into being through the miraculous birth of Abraham’s son Isaac, their ethnicity is entirely different than the rest of the world. They came into being through the direct intervention of the LORD (Yahweh) so that He could have His own “allotted heritage.” He would indeed make covenants with them (four in all). However, they are secondary beneficiaries of His covenant with the Gentiles through Noah, just as we Gentiles are secondary beneficiaries of His covenants with the Jews.

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the LORD's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage. Deuteronomy 32:8-9

Turning back, now, to our covenant through Noah, who should note how entirely one-side it was. No obligation was placed upon Noah whatsoever, nor on any of his descendants (us). Evidently, God gave the covenant as a pledge to us that no matter what a mess me might make of things in the future, God would never again send a flood to wash the earth clean. Interestingly, this was a pledge made to all living creatures, not just Noah and his descendants, since all living creatures had also suffered loss due to our sinful ways. Then, He placed the rainbow in the clouds as a perpetual reminder of this covenant so that whenever we see rain, the rainbow would hold our hope steady that the clouds cover us with mercy not judgment.

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, "Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." Genesis 9:8-11

The covenant with Noah has not been rescinded or abrogated: It is fully in effect.

To rescind means to revoke, repeal, or invalidate by a later action or a higher authority. To abrogate means to abolish by formal or official means; annul by an authoritative act; repeal, put aside or put an end to.[3]

2. The Covenant with Abraham

The covenant with Abraham brings into being God’s special relationship with the nation of Israel. We should not, however, imagine that anything like a nation-state is intended here. Nation, as we saw earlier means ethnicity—a people group, not statehood in the modern sense. Even the Jewish people did not form into a nation-state until the reign of Saul and that development came nearly a thousand years later. This covenant, then, gives us wonderful insights into the special calling of the Jewish people and their place in the heart of God. But it tells us very little about the modern nation of Israel. Those insights will come later through the covenant with David. What we see here in Genesis 12 is God promising to “make” of Abram “a great nation” using the same Hebrew word recorded when He said, “let us make man in our image.”[4] This clearly is a momentous new beginning.

Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Genesis 12-3

A promise, however, is not the same thing as a covenant, though every covenant is based upon promises given by one side or the other, or by both. The Lord continued to visit Abram with promises in the next four chapters. By the time the covenant sign of circumcision is given in Chapter 17, the promise had grown to include not just one nation, but many nations, and not just a people group but a land they could dwell upon perpetually. All that was required of Abraham and his descendants was to circumcise the foreskins of all Jewish males. Inheriting the promises of this “everlasting covenant” rested upon natural descent and circumcision. There was a way for outsiders (Gentiles) to be brought in, but the only way out—the only way to break the covenant—was to reject the requirement of circumcision.[5]

"Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God." Genesis 17:4-8

This everlasting covenant through Abraham is still fully in place regarding the Jewish people. They have done nothing to break it and we can be certain that God will not renege on His end. In fact, one extended promise has been marvelously fulfilled. Through the death and resurrection of Abraham’s descendant, Jesus, vast multitudes have been spiritually reborn as sons and daughters of God. Therefore, it is uniquely through Abraham that “all the families of the earth” are being blessed just as God promised. Even better, according to Paul, all those who are reborn through faith are true sons of Abraham. He is the spiritual father of all those who are being saved by grace through faith for Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”[6]

The covenant with Abraham has not been rescinded or abrogated: It is fully in effect.

3. The Covenant with Moses

The covenant that came in through Moses is the most complicated of them all. It is complicated not so much by its own internal structure (though it is lengthy and complex) but by the way it interacts with the New Covenant that Jesus inaugurated. This is the covenant that is typically referred to as the Law both in scripture and in Christian teaching. However, it must be kept in mind that “the Law” is often a translation of the Hebrew word torah which usually refers to the first five books of the Bible but can include the whole of the Hebrew scriptures. Accordingly, it should be evident that torah refers to the whole Biblical counsel on how to “walk with God” since it is filled with people and stories, not just legal decrees. So, although torah is often translated in the New Testament as the Law and although it contains laws, it cannot be equated with law. Confused? By now it should be evident why we (Gentiles) are in such a muddle!

As for the laws in the covenant of Moses, there are most famously the ten commandments and the moral codes which extend them. There are also the dietary code, civil laws for the Jewish people, and rules governing all aspects of religious practice: from how to build the tabernacle, to proper dress for the priests, to required festivals to celebrate, and sacrifices to offer. God’s part in this was to bless them, but only if they showed consistency in walking with Him by obeying all the laws contained in the covenant. The Jewish people out of their love of God for delivering them, their fear of God’s awesome power, and their complete failure to grasp the depth of their depravity, ratified the covenant by agreeing with one voice that they would keep it entirely. No one should question their good intentions, but they needed something more. First, they had to discover that their hope for keeping the Law could never be in themselves.

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine… All the people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do." And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD. Exodus 19:5, 8

As is well known, the failure of the Jewish people to keep their part of the covenant led to personal and national disasters throughout their history. Eventually, Jesus came as God’s appointed Messiah to save the nation from their sins and to inaugurate a New Covenant through His Blood. That covenant included both the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit as provisions for living a new life of faith and righteousness. The Protestant Reformers of the sixteenth century universally agreed that the New Covenant set aside all but the moral code enshrined in the ten commandments. All the rest of the rules and regulations in their view had to do with the specific calling of the Jewish people—and apply to them to this day. In this, they were following both New Testament teaching (primarily Jesus and Paul) and the unanimous decree of the Jerusalem Council which had been convened to settle this issue in the first century.[7] It is these “secondary” aspects of the Mosaic Covenant that have been made “obsolete,” not the moral law.

In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. Hebrews 8:13

Now comes the tricky part. Just how does the New Covenant bring believers into relationship with the moral Law of Sinai? Remember, that Paul lambasted that Law as something impossible to keep and worse, a thing that sin uses to overthrow all who try to put their confidence in it as a means of being rightly related to God.[8] Indeed, it does. If we don’t try to keep the moral code, we are lawless rebels and are therefore unrighteous through and through (without a right standing with God). On the other hand, if we do try to keep the Law and fail, we are therefore unrighteous and miserable about it to boot. Worse, if we try to keep the Law and succeed (if only in our own eyes) we become self-righteous bigots and are therefore as unrighteous as the Pharisees. What is the way out of this dilemma? Jesus!

Under the New Covenant, Jesus does not abolish the Law, nor does He keep it for us, as if we are to believe that because Jesus kept the Law sinlessly, we don’t have to. Although it is true that His Righteousness covers our utter inability to produce a righteousness of our own, God still wants to get us to live in a righteous way. The first step is always that of faith. Trusting that God and Jesus love us and have covered our sins and sinfulness enables us to take the second step. That second step is listening in order to obey. At this critical point, nothing has changed from Sinai, but instead of looking to the Law (and trying to keep it on our own) we look to Jesus, the Lord of the Law, and do what He shows us. In this way of trust and obedience, the Spirit leads us step by step into one right thing to do after another. Our life is transformed as we turn from trying to be law-keepers to being faithful at following Jesus. Jesus fulfills the Law (the moral laws of Sinai) through us as we listen to and obey Him, not self.

The covenant with Moses has only partially been superseded: Its moral law is fully in effect.

To supersede means to replace in power, authority, effectiveness, acceptance, use, etc., as by another person or thing: to set aside or cause to be set aside as void, useless, or obsolete, usually in favor of something mentioned; make obsolete.[9]

4. The Covenant with David

Through Abraham, we see an eternal covenant made with the Jewish people that includes a land where they can dwell and a blessing they will convey to the entire world. This one ethnic group has survived and thrived despite everything the Enemy and a hostile world has thrown at them. Against all odds they are now—after 1800 years of exile—back in the land God promised to them. Meanwhile, incalculable blessings are flowing into the world through scientific advancements made by the highest percentage of Nobel winners any people group on the planet has yet produced. Add to this the reality that salvation has come to untold billions of Gentiles through their Messiah, Jesus. All these accomplishments were contained in the covenant with Abraham. Through the covenant with David, we see the makings of the state of Israel and ultimately the enthronement in Israel of the worlds’ true Ruler, the Lord Jesus Christ.

When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 2 Samuel 7:12-13

Neither to Abraham nor Moses, but to David a promise is given that an heir of his lineage will rule over Israel—forever. Moreover, just as God expanded His promises to Abraham with further promises to his descendants, so He did with this one. The promise of this covenant is expanded by an angelic messenger to one of David’s descendants—Mary—who was told that “there will be no end” to the kingdom of the Child she was carrying.[10] This clearly meant no end in time, but it also means no limits upon the earth. Astoundingly, God initiated a covenant with a Jewish king three thousand years ago which promised that through this one nation He would eventually rule the entire world. Never let it be said that our God ever underestimates His ability.

By means of Abraham’s covenant combined with this one, King Jesus has been ruling in the hearts of Jewish and Gentile believers for two thousand years. That kingdom of God reign will continue to advance beyond all present limits through the Harvest of the Last Days. Those Days will not be complete, however, without the return of Jesus to take up the reins of government. Then, His invisible kingdom’s reign in hearts will become the visible reign of a Jewish man-God King on a throne in Israel. For His part, God promised unconditionally to do it. The only part that remained to David’s line was for someone to be raised up who would walk in God’s ways. The waywardness of David’s descendants (not to mention his own) caused the destruction of the Davidic kingdom and the near extinction of his line. Nevertheless, through Joseph, Mary, and a miracle, God brought to birth One who completely fulfilled His will for that beginning stage of fulfilling this promise. An “offspring” from David’s body will reign eternally in Jerusalem.

The covenant with David has not been rescinded or abrogated: It is fully in effect.

5. The New Covenant

This too is a Jewish covenant. That unarguable fact may come as surprise because we (Gentiles) think of the New Covenant as our covenant and the New Testament as our scriptures. They are that, but only, as it were, by second hand. The New Testament was written almost entirely by Jewish men.[11] Furthermore, Jesus inaugurated this covenant exclusively with Jewish men at the Last Supper in the midst of a Jewish nation. There were no Gentile Christians present. In fact, there were no Gentile Christians in existence until months, perhaps years, after His death and resurrection.[12] The New Covenant was entirely in the hands of Jewish leaders and in the hearts of Jewish believers from its beginning. The promises for this covenant were also given exclusively to Jewish believers centuries before Jesus came to the Jewish people and ratified His covenant through them.

"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 31:31-32

Way back in the days of the prophet Jeremiah, God gave this promise of “a new covenant” to the Jewish people. That was six hundred years before Jesus arrived. Notice that it was to be different than the Mosaic Covenant. Specifically, He mentions the forgiveness of sins and alludes to the gift of the Holy Spirit by promising He would give them an ability to keep His law.[13] This gift of the Spirit is reinforced by a companion promise given through Ezekiel.[14] However, the covenants with Abraham and David are left without any hint of alteration—neither here nor anywhere in the Hebrew scriptures. Only the covenant with Moses would be affected by the new one that is coming. As we know, it was a long time in coming (though not as long as our Lord’s promised return). When the time was right, Jesus gathered His disciples for one last supper and announced that the New Covenant had finally arrived. In fact, it would be sealed or ratified by His Blood the very next day.

And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” Luke 22:20

Paul is well-known and much beloved as the apostle to the Gentles. Yet, no one in scripture takes greater pains to remind us that the gospel was given to the Jews first.[15] Chapters 8-10 of Romans show us the anguish he felt because so many of the Jewish people rejected the gospel message and were unable, therefore, to receive the saving grace of the New Covenant. This heart-breaking falling away, however, did not mean that their other two covenants had been annulled or that they had been rejected from God’s plans.[16] Paul saw this tragic state of affairs as only temporary. He drew three conclusions: First, that the Jewish rejection of the gospel meant that its riches would now fall to the Gentiles who received it. Second, at that future date when God would restore the Jews, their return would usher in even greater blessings. Finally, if God spared not the first-chosen people, Gentiles should beware lest they too fall away. The gospel came to the Jews first and to it the Jews will eventually return. The Last Days are designed to accomplish this.

The New Covenant has not been rescinded or abrogated: It is fully in effect.

Pre-Figured in Scripture

Every crucial component of the Last Days has already “appeared” in the Biblical prophetic narrative in the past, somewhat like a dress rehearsal for the final drama. These foreshadows are called “types” because they precede their ultimate expression (the “antitype”).[17] As shadows of the future reality, however, they cast a revealing light of their own.

1. Persecution in Book of Esther

One outstanding, never-failing promise of the covenant with Abraham is that God would bless those who bless the Jews and curse those who don’t.[18] Consider, how mighty Egypt enslaved them, then would have pursued them to death had not the Lord intervened at the Red Sea. Where is their empire now? The Assyrians swept in from the north in 721 BC and crushed the northern Kingdom of Israel, carrying captives off into oblivion. Where is Assyria now? Or the Babylonians who in 587 BC ransacked Temple and treasury, leaving Jerusalem razed to the ground. Where are they now? These were followed by the Seleucid Greeks, then the Romans who used the full force of their famed legions to obliterate the nation, its capital, and its people. Where are those empires now? In our own day, the British Empire rose as it showed unusual favor to the Jews and fell when it didn’t. Is anyone learning this lesson?

It was a lesson that had to be learned anew in Esther’s day. Haman the Agagite turned against Mordecai the faithful Jew and out of his demented offense, sought to raise up a massive and murderous persecution of all the Jews in the Persian Empire. Queen Esther managed to turn the tables on him (with God’s help of course) and brought about a reversal of the outcome which her husband’s edict had set in motion. Though there is much that is instructive in all ten chapters, it is the Jewish response in Chapter 9 that calls attention to something new on the world scene.

For 1800 years of exile from their homeland, the Jews almost universally suffered persecution without fighting back. Certainly, they were outnumbered. Nor did they typically have any weaponry or militia of their own. Additionally, they were as crushed by poverty as they seemed in spirit, believing as they did that God desired them to suffer this fate. The events of the Holocaust and the birth of the nation of Israel changed all that, perhaps forever. As Jews flooded back to the Land and built the nation they vowed: “never again!” That swearing-in takes place to this day in military services at Masada, a site seared in the national memory as one of both emboldened resistance and merciless annihilation. This passage from Esther shows that present-day Jews have recovered the same boldness that the Jews of Persia exhibited.

Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's command and edict were about to be carried out, on the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, the reverse occurred: the Jews gained mastery over those who hated them. The Jews gathered in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm. And no one could stand against them, for the fear of them had fallen on all peoples. Esther 9:1-2

What will the Jews do as the Enemy raises his Last Days forces against them? They will fight back! There will be no repetition of the passivity they exhibited in Nazi-controlled Germany. Israel will fight to the bitter end, but according to what is written, that can only mean the end of their enemies. What will Jews still scattered around the world do? They will likely run to cover if they can’t make it to Israel. What will their Christian counterparts do? Should we fight back or solely follow the path of suffering as martyred witnesses? The beast’s system cannot be easily withstood. It certainly won’t be overthrown by anyone except the Lord upon His Return. Even so, there may be outbreaks of armed resistance such as Jewish freedom fighters staged in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943 for one heroic, unforgettable month. Will Jews and Christians be fighting side by side?

2. Promises to the Exiles in Babylon

Often God used His prophets to warn the Jewish people to repent, turn back to Him, or suffer the consequence by reaping horrendous judgments. Just as often—it seems—they didn’t listen. We should take heed for our record of listening in order to obey is probably as sketchy as theirs. What saves us is that there seems to be unlimited mercy in the New Covenant. There isn’t—if by mercy we imagine that hard discipline, stern correction, and severe chastisement have all be set aside by the cross. What there is in abundance is unlimited forgiveness, but it is only available to those who repent, when they repent. With an almost unimaginable mercy, God works to bring us to repentance, but His mercy at times sends punishing consequences to wake us up and get our attention. When that happens, it never feels like mercy. But it does get our attention.

One of the trickiest things in all this is the way the Lord has to balance getting us to despair of life lived on our own terms without losing hope in Him. This is spiritual brinkmanship at its finest. It is a dark time indeed when we want to give up, but if it’s managed right, that’s the time when we finally give in. Until we come to the end of our selves, the true new life can only go forwards in fits and starts, hobbled by self’s desire to lead the way. This life-shattering dynamic was at work in ancient Israel. Time and again the people came to dead ends. Only then did they look up, wake up, and return in their hearts to God to go His way rather than their own. Babylon was one of those dead ends, perhaps the most bone-crushing and humiliating one of all. God didn’t want them to give up hope in Him, just give in to His desire to be their Leader and Lord. Through Ezekiel, He sent wonderful promises of restoration.

And the word of the LORD came to me… "Therefore say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone.' Therefore say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.'” Ezekiel 11:14, 16-17

Once again, the Jewish people are heading towards a dead end. Their two thousand-year-long rejection of their own Messiah is going to be reversed. Already the prophesied age of the Gentiles is winding down.[19] Messianic Jewish congregations are springing up all over the world, including Israel. For the first time in history since the expulsion of Christian believers from the synagogues in 85 AD, Jews are becoming Christians without becoming Gentile Christians. Messianic Jewish rabbis are teaching Gentiles again (remember Rabbi Paul?). Moreover, many forms of Hebrew worship are being adopted by Gentile congregations, including observation of the seven sacred Jewish festivals. Beyond even this, Christians all over the world are in prayer for Israel, for the Jews, and for their conversion like never before.

From a Christian point of view, this is wonderful! That’s not the way it will seem to them. As persecution mounts up and hostilities against Israel increase, the Jewish people will inevitably begin to feel abandoned by God when their longed-for Messiah doesn’t appear. False messiahs will come and go, taking many down with them. Their hopes will be dashed time and again. Only we know that Jesus won’t be arriving until the very end—and He’s the last Person they are hoping to see. They won’t be able to painlessly give up their hope that someone else will rescue them. It will “pierce” their hearts to realize how great their apostasy has been. Paul kicked against the goads for a short season in his life.[20] They have been kicking against acknowledging Jesus for two millennium! Although they will also be thrilled to behold His love and mercy for them, they will still mourn over the tragedies that could have been avoided if only they could have given in sooner.

"And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.” Zechariah 12:10-11

Our God will have to walk a fine line between frustrating all the false hopes and false beliefs of His beloved Jewish people without causing them to give up on life itself. He wants conversions, not suicides. For that to happen, they will need all the promises of restoration that they can find. Our challenge will be to help them hold on to hope in God while praying and waiting patiently to see if they will let us bring up the Name of Jesus as the One to seek as their true Messiah.

Revealed by Scripture

The Bible exposes the secret plans and deceptive operations of the dark kingdom, even as it unveils the glorious realities of what our God is doing. The truths of scripture are, therefore, our rock-solid building blocks for interpreting the times we are entering. Nevertheless, for biblical information to become true revelation both prayer and the Holy Spirit are needed.

There are far too many prophecies about the Jews and Israel in the Last Days to list them all here. One researcher says that there are over one hundred passages in the Bible that point to the End Times. Many are in the Hebrew scriptures, often filling whole chapters. This selection is necessarily abbreviated but hopefully it is enough to give you a feeling for the wealth of information waiting for your further discoveries. Unquestionably, the Lord’s love for the Jews, for Israel and for Jerusalem is unbounded by time, or undiminished by their unwitting resistance to Him. We will see this unparalleled love story play out before our watching eyes and wondering hearts in the Days ahead.

1. Jewish Signs of Jesus’ Return

The Jewish people in one generation have gone from being obscure and despised on the fringes of every country, to being in command of one of the most dynamic nations in the world. They are world-class leaders in technology and medicine as well as science. Their economy consistently outperforms that of their beleaguered neighbors. Yet, all this pales in comparison to the role the Lord has chosen for them in the Last Days. The Returning King of the Earth will set up His throne and rule from Jerusalem in the heart of a restored Israel! Naturally enough, with that kind of future intended, the signs associated with modern Israel are, perhaps, the greatest evidence the Lord can give us of His preparations to return soon.

1) The Re-gathering of the Jews

The return of Jews to the land promised by God is a modern miracle. It also set the End Times clock in motion. The Lord promised the land to Abraham and his descendants forever. Every Christian knows this. Less well known is the sheer number of prophecies in the Old Testament which foretold a vast dispersal of the Jews following the loss of their homeland—that, and the subsequent work of the Lord which would restore them. Always, this restoration was couched in terms of “the latter days.” Jesus proclaimed the same things.

They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Luke 21:24

How were the Jews scattered? And why? The Roman Empire was the agent both of Israel’s destruction and the Jewish dispersal. If you asked them, they would have said the nation was ungovernable. The First Jewish War began as a revolt. The Romans crushed it in a typically brutal manner with the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple (70 AD). The Second Revolt of Judea (132-135 AD) was the last straw. In putting down the rebellion led by Bar Kokhba, the Romans razed Jerusalem, desecrated the Temple mount, and raised a Roman city in its place. Jews of Judea were either killed, exiled, or sold into slavery. The centuries-long diaspora had begun. This, too, was prophesied by a despondent Jesus:

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate." Matthew 23:37-38

A Slow Then Sudden Return

For well over a millennium and a half, Jews of the Diaspora prayed with yearning hearts to see a return to the land. No doubt the nearly universal persecution they experienced compounded their anguish at being outcasts and wanderers. Even so, they proved reluctant to leave the relative “security” of the ghetto for an uncertain future. Theodore Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, correctly read the signs of antisemitism in the late 1800s. He called for European Jews to return to the Land, but the response was a trickle. Europe was civilized and safe. Far too few realized that the Zionists were the prophesied “fishers.” The Nazi “hunters” came afterward.

But 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers. "Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the LORD, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks. Jeremiah 16:15-16

In the aftermath of the Holocaust and World War, the Zionist movement, led by David Ben-Gurion, grew ever more determined to regain Israel for the Jews. Even the Allied powers knew about the death camps yet refused to bomb the rail lines leading to them. If the Jews were to survive in such a hostile world, they vowed they would never go meekly to the slaughter again, as so many had in the gas chambers. Many lost all faith that they could count on God. They could only count on themselves. Sadly, just when Israel was reborn, their ancient faith lay in the grave (for all but the Orthodox). To this day the majority of Israelis are adamantly secular, even if avowedly ethnic, in their outlook and allegiance.

Of course, the Lord has plans for a far fuller restoration than land. They have an ancient spiritual inheritance He intends to renew. For now, the Jews are in their Holy Land once again. That is a massive sign of the Last Days!

2) The Restoration of the Hebrew Language

Of all the stupendous, amazing signs of His Return that the Lord gives through His first chosen people, this one probably has the least impact on geopolitical events. But it is no less dazzling. When in the full course of human events has a once-dead language ever been successfully brought back to life? To be sure, Latin and Greek are still taught, but outside the walls of the Vatican, Latin is rarely spoken. And the Greek of Greece is not the original tongue so eloquently written by Paul. Even the English of Shakespeare is practically a closed book to his linguistic descendants. In recent times, the Irish Republic launched a heroic attempt to bring back ancient Gaelic. It failed.

Yet, Israel speaks Biblical Hebrew once again. Let that sink in. They not only speak Hebrew—a language kept alive solely for religious study and ritual as Latin and Greek were. They speak it in pure form! This is even more remarkable when we recall the centuries, no millennia, of dis-use and misuse. The Hebrew kept alive by the Yeshivas (schools) inevitably suffered in isolation. In Jerusalem for instance, the people spoke Yiddish, French, or Arabic, not Hebrew. When Hebrew was required for intercommunication is was a form of Medieval Hebrew, an outmoded and degraded version of the Biblical original. God had promised something far better.

"For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord.” Zephaniah 3:9

A Very Determined Hero

The Lord used a resourceful man from Eastern Europe to accomplish this modern resurrection. Born Eliezer Perelman in Lithuania in 1858, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda caught the Zionist vision and emigrated to the Holy Land. He worked tirelessly to create a thoroughly modern Hebrew dictionary and to promote Hebrew as the language of instruction in schools. Sensing that this could never accomplish the goal, he and his wife, Deborah Jonas came up with a bold plan. Speaking only Hebrew in the home and isolating their family life from the outside, they brought up their son, Ben-Zion, as the first native-speaking Hebrew child in almost two thousand years.

Now, sabras (native-born Israelis) all speak Biblical Hebrew in a “pure” form, just as their God had promised so many years ago through His prophet Zephaniah. For those who have grown up with the reality of modern Israel, this may seem inconsequential, even expected that as a matter of course a nation would speak its ethnic tongue. Students of history and of prophecy, however, can see it for the astonishing miracle that it is. And move the minute hand on the Last Days clock just that much closer to the midnight hour…

3) The Restoration of the Jewish Nation

The nation of Israel was twice ruthlessly destroyed by the Romans—partially in 70-72 AD and completely in 130 AD.  For almost two thousand years, the forlorn dream of Jews in exile from the land was to return to the land as sojourners. But few would have believed national restoration was possible. Then, first by the Zionist movement beginning in the late 19th century and later by Nazi persecution the Jewish people began returning to the Land. The lineage of the priesthood is identified and available to be restored and many of the furnishings for a rebuilt temple have already been prepared, making the restoration of temple worship in Jerusalem a real possibility—apart from the political chaos that such a move would launch. 

"Before she was in labor she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she delivered a son. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children." Isaiah 66:7-8

Then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. Ezekiel 37:21

The day that the British Mandate for Palestine expired, Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, declared independence. With the vote of the United Nations in its favor, Israel was reborn in a single day—May 14, 1948—just as the Lord prophesied through Isaiah. To top it off, Isaiah’s exact words were fulfilled. Israel as a nation was “brought forth” and immediately afterward the “labor pains” of war began. The surrounding Islamic nations of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia all declared war the same day that Israel became a nation recognized by the world’s governing authority.

4) Israel Restored with National Unity

Another marvel about the founding of Israel is one we might easily take for granted. The nation that emerged in 1948 was a united whole, a single nation. Well, that’s normal, isn’t it? To this day, nations arise with a united purpose; only later might they splinter and divide. Indeed, division is exactly what happened to the nation of Israel under its third king, Solomon’s son Rehoboam. A disgruntled Jeroboam led the Northern Kingdom into rebellion against Judah and Benjamin in the south. That heart-breaking division remained right through the final destruction of Israel and the deportation of the ten northern tribes by Assyria in 722 BC.

When modern Israel declared its independence in 1948 no trace of that former division remained. Centuries of persecution during the Diaspora (dispersal) united the Jewish people with a shared dream of national restoration: “Next year in Jerusalem!” to be sure, political and religious differences of opinion abound, many with vehement intensity, but a common bond continues to hold the nation together. That common bond may have more to do with “us against the world”—the nations which seek their destruction—than with a shared faith in their national God. Nevertheless, this marvel of a united Israel was exactly predicted by Ezekiel over 2500 years ago.

And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. Ezekiel 37:22

5) Jerusalem and Israel in World Politics

Only a hundred and fifty years ago, who would have thought that Jerusalem could ever again have a role to play in world politics? Who could have conceived that it would become the very epicenter of global politics, a fault line setting the nations of the world in an uproar? The answer, of course, is no one except (perhaps) students of Bible prophecy. Even they must have been scratching their heads. Certainly, as shrewd an observer as Mark Twain didn’t see it coming at all. Writing of his 1867 visit to the Holy Land, Twain marveled with undisguised scorn at the “romantic” accounts bandied about by religious tourists.

To find the sort of solitude to make one dreary come to Galilee for that…  these unpeopled deserts, these rusty mounds of barrenness, that never, never, never do shake the glare from their harsh outlines… that melancholy ruin of Capernaum, this stupid village of Tiberias, slumbering under its six funereal palms… we never saw a human being on the whole route [to Tabor]. Mark Twain, “The Innocents Abroad”

Twain was hardly alone in his assessment. Others saw it too. Ten years earlier (in 1857) the British Consul in Palestine reported that the entire land was largely uninhabited, that its greatest need was repopulation. As late as 1895, French author Pierre Loti described a dismal scene: “As elsewhere, as everywhere in Palestine, city and palaces have returned to the dust… This melancholy of abandonment, weights on all of the Holy Land.”[21] These men would be shocked and astonished by present events we largely take for granted. Their writings preserve for us an undeniable record of how stunningly and swiftly an Invisible Hand has overthrown the old order. Exactly as it was prophesied!

The oracle of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus declares the Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him: "Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it. Zechariah 12:1-4

A Continuing War Against the Jews

The mandate from heaven to regather the Jews and restore their nation flew in the face of newly discovered Saudi oil. All the leading nations of the world—especially in their covert operations—conspired against Israel’s formation, including the United States. This sordid story has been masterfully chronicled by John Loftus and Mark Aarons in their book, “The Secret War Against the Jews.” Reading it, one is amazed that the Zionists were able to pull it off in the face of such intense international opposition. Indeed, only a great God could foretell it and accomplish it!

The average post-war citizen in the US and Europe wanted the Jews to have their homeland for the sake of the Holocaust. Nevertheless, powerful people in their governments were willing to sell out the Zionists to gain favor with the Saudis. As a matter of historic record, the first Saudi king, Ibn Saud, intensely hated Jews and vigorously resisted all efforts to restore them to their land. The deadly infection of hatred spread throughout Islam. Hence, from the 1930s on, a witches’ brew of antisemitism, Arab oil, and terrorist violence has turned Jerusalem into a “cup of staggering.” Israel’s emergence and survival are truly miraculous.

Now They Are Positioned to See Him

This miraculous Jewish sign is all the more compelling because Zechariah linked it to the ultimate realization by the Jews that Jesus is their Messiah. This Jewish nation, surrounded by enemies and at the center of world events, would see “him whom they have pierced.” Present-day Israel will see Jesus return and “weep bitterly” to behold that He is the Messiah they rejected. This prophecy is a highly focused sign of the nearness of our Lord’s Return. Israel had to be reborn for this to take place—for them to be in a position to “look on” Him when He physically returns at the Mount of Olives. Israel also had to become “a cup of staggering.” We are there!

"And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.” Zechariah 12:10

6) The Tabernacle of David

For the church as a whole, there is a little-known sign that has, perhaps, escaped the attention of many. Of course, it is well-known to those who are involved in it, but this is still a remnant portion compared to the whole. This gospel sign is the emergence of a worldwide prayer and praise movement. Prayer and praise that is offered before the Lord as continuous worship is prophesied of the end of the age.

In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old. Amos 9:11 ASV

"After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.” Acts 15:16-17

King David commissioned a sizable troop of worshippers and musicians to offer continuous prayer and praise at the Tabernacle in Jerusalem. Except for the century-long 24/7 prayer vigil of the Moravians at Herrnhut in Germany, the earth has rarely seen such extravagant worship sustained on the Davidic scale. Curiously, this too is one of the things God is raising up in the earth today and restoring to the life of the church. A 24/7 worship and intercessory movement began in Kansas City, Missouri in 1999. According to founding pastor Mike Bickle, The International House of Prayer (IHOP) has inspired a hundred other prayer groups all over the world to follow their lead.

7) Messianic Jewish Believers

Previous centuries have seen forced Jewish converts to Christianity who practiced their Jewish faith secretly and willing, believing converts who were then assimilated into Gentile Christianity.  The rise of Messianic Jews (Jews who retain their Jewish heritage and identity when coming to faith in Christ) in the past few decades marks a shift towards the end of the age of the Gentiles. For more on this see “Gospel Signs of Jesus’ Return.”

A long-awaited sign is finally coming to pass. The conversion of Jews at the end of the age of the Gentiles is a present reality. Previous centuries have seen forced Jewish converts to Christianity who continued to practice their Jewish faith secretly. Willing, believing converts—though rare—had no other option than to be assimilated into Gentile Christianity with a resulting loss of their Jewish heritage. Such Jewish conversions were in themselves proof that the “age of the Gentiles” was still in full swing.

Something radically different is happening in our day. Messianic Jewish congregation can be found in most major cities. These are Jewish converts to Christian faith in Jesus, but who retain their Jewish heritage and identity. They continue to keep the Jewish festivals, their congregations are presided over by Rabbis, yet they enthusiastically worship Jesus as their Messiah. This phenomenon has not been seen on earth since the expulsion of Jewish Christians from the synagogues late in the first century following the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Messianic Judaism began in the 1960s and has been growing rapidly ever since. It marks a dramatic shift towards the end of the age of the Gentiles.

And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Romans 11:23-25

They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Luke 21:24

2. The Woman and the Dragon

John received a fascinating vision of a dragon at war with a woman and her offspring. This woman is certainly the damsel in distress of the End Times story. A monstrous dragon is chasing her! He is out to destroy her at both the beginning and the end of this action-packed chapter. This makes her a highly sympathetic character, not at all like her opposite number—the Harlot of Babylon. However, just like that femme fatale, she presents a mystery. It is not the mystery of iniquity, but that of righteousness. Who is she? What does she represent and what can we do, if anything, to help her out?

And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. Revelation 12:4b

When did this event occur? As we see in the next verse, the dragon could have only “stood before the woman” at the time leading up to Jesus’ birth, because it is Jesus who will ascend to heaven’s throne and “rule all the nations.” Jesus is this woman’s child, the one Herod “sought to devour.” That much is certain. The woman, therefore, could be the Virgin Mary or the nation of Israel. Naturally, opinions are divided on this. Mary, of course, is the human individual God recruited to bring His Son to birth, so she comes to mind first. She is the human embodiment of the Lord’s cultivation of Israel to be His Wife and give birth to the promised Messiah, Jesus.

Mary fits perfectly in this one moment of giving birth. At this point in the vision, Mary is the Woman and the Woman is Mary. There can be little question about it. We could say for this moment the Woman wears Mary’s face and bears her name. However, nothing else in the prophecy fits her. How was she dramatically withstood by Satan? She had some trouble with Joseph at first that’s true, but his doubts were cleared up by a mere dream, not a battle. After Jesus was caught up to God at the Ascension there is no record of Mary fleeing persecution. She is remembered as having lived to ripe old age under the disciple John’s care in Ephesus.

The Jewish people, on the other, are a perfectly suitable candidate. Throughout the Hebrew scriptures, Israel is described as God’s beloved, whom He married by means of the covenant at Mount Sinai.[22] As we know it was a stormy relationship—He divorced the Northern Kingdom of Israel, but not Judah, though she committed adultery, too. It was through the faithful remnant in Judah that God brought forth the promised Messiah. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a divinely prepared nation to raise a Messiah. The scriptures and prophecies had to be sown into the faith womb of the Jewish people and cultivated through their national life for Jesus to not only be born but also to be raised in the knowledge and holy fear of God. No other nation on earth could have done it. That’s why God had to choose one nation (ethnic group), marry her, and impregnate her with longing for the coming Child. That's the faith-seed which Israel uniquely carried in her prayer womb for centuries.

That the enemy has a murderous rage directed against the Jewish people—continuing through to this day—is well-attested to by the events of history. Pharaoh enslaved them, then sought to reduce their numbers. The nations in the Promised Land tried to fight them to death. So did the Philistines. The Assyrians succeeded in conquering and carrying off the northern kingdom. Babylon came and destroyed the southern, carrying them off captive as well. The Lord preserved a remnant every time. The Greeks and Romans also fought wars to destroy their cultural cohesion and national life. Rome succeeded better than any enemy previously. After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD and the obliteration of the nation in 132 AD, the Jewish survivors “fled into the wilderness”—forced to live in Diaspora, scattered among the Gentile nations. Then, with the Zionist movement of the late 1800s, God brought a remnant back to the land. The enemy still attacks them there.

She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. Revelation 12:5-6

Even though he “stood before” this vulnerable woman giving birth, the dragon-who-would-be-god proves powerless. His deadly efforts are entirely unsuccessful. She gives birth to a male child who is “caught up to God and his throne.” Jesus is the only person in scripture who could fit the description of one who “is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.” If it is indeed our Lord, then obviously, there is a compression of time in the sequence. Between the birth of Jesus and His being “caught up” to heaven by means of the Ascension, there was an interval of 33 years. If true so far, this gives us a template for looking at other passages in this sequence and perhaps also throughout the book.

Prophetic vision (alas!) rarely comes with a set pattern for interpretation. From a beleaguered human standpoint, it really doesn’t help that the Lord enjoys playing with words and images, even sequences. On the other hand, it sure makes the effort to decipher the text feel far more rewarding when understanding comes.

So, let’s take a leap here with the text. In verse 5 we have Jesus ascending to the throne. That was 33 AD by traditional dating. Next, we are told that the woman “fled into the wilderness.” That could be the Diaspora of the past two thousand years. Then we see her in “a place prepared by God.” That could be modern Israel. Finally, at the end of verse 6, we are told that she will be “nourished for 1260 days.” Where have we heard that number before? It just happens to be 42 months—the terrible period of the antichrist’s reign of terror. It is the final 3 ½ years of the Great Tribulation.

And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. Revelation 12:13

As discussed, we have two possibilities for this woman based upon verse 4b above: she is either the Virgin Mary or the Lord’s Beloved, Israel. However, at this point, some believe that we are being shown a third possibility: this woman is the Bride of Christ. But how can that be? This is the same woman that we were shown in the earlier verses as giving birth to the male child who would rule the world. How can the Bride of Christ in any way be thought of as giving birth to Jesus at His first coming? This would be a historic impossibility. The Bride can only be said to appear once the gospel and faith arrive—and that is after Jesus resurrects and leaves. Let’s don’t even consider the incestuous application if we press the metaphor to make the one who mothers Jesus into His future Bride.

The wedding of the Bride with Her resurrected Bridegroom awaits His Return. We are not told what that union may produce by way of divine-human offspring. Meanwhile, the one who mothered the one and only God-Man, Jesus, in the earlier verse must be Mary or Israel. At last, the identification becomes positive. Because of this same woman’s appearance in this and the following verses, she cannot be Mary. What could the Virgin Mary possibly be doing in these End Times verses? That leaves us with Israel, the Jewish people. If there is a woe for the inhabitants of the earth because the accuser was thrown down our way in anger, that woe is doubled for the non-Christian Jews who—in the person of this woman—are now “pursued’ by the dragon himself.

But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. Revelation 12:14

Something or someone comes to the woman’s rescue. She is given “the two wings of the great eagle” to flee from immediate danger. That’s an interesting turn of the phrase. She is given the wings, not the eagle. It is she who “flies” with the help of these wings, rather than what we would expect—the eagle flying her. It is tempting to see here the eagle as the national emblem of the United States. The US has maintained a stance of friendship and protection towards Israel right from its national beginning in 1948. Not only that, but the largest population of Jews in the world (outside of Israel) is in the US where they have been protected and have prospered to a degree never reached in other nations.[23]

The American eagle would be the ideal candidate for this identification if it weren’t for the odd fact of its dismembered wings. What could that possibly imply? Many people indeed see America as having a destined role to play in the End Times protection of the dispersed and hunted Jewish refugees pictured here. However, refer to “Mystery Babylon” to see that America also fits the bill as the Harlot which will be judged in a day, resulting in national devastation. Will Christian believers in America still be able to shelter Jewish refugees? Many believe this will happen. If that’s the case, the eagle may indeed be gone as a power among the nations, but enough of her faithful people—the wings (think wings of faith)—may still be around to help carry the woman to safety.

The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. Revelation 12:15-16

Whatever this crisis represents it clearly has a supernatural ending to it. At the beginning of the verse, the vision describes the flood as pouring “like a river” out of the serpent’s mouth. Why are we being shown the serpent and not the dragon? This takes us back to the source of the deceiver’s work. The original lie may be mingled somehow in these waters that are intended to “sweep her away with a flood.” We often speak of a “flood of lies” and “sweeping accusations.” It is not hard to imagine the evil one and his puppets—the antichrist and false prophet—pursuing Jews with a propaganda campaign the likes of which Goebbels never dreamed in his wildest fantasies.

It will take a miracle to save them and that is just what we are shown. The earth “opened its mouth and swallowed” this river of lies. By earth here are we meant to see the “salt of the earth”, the humble people of the earth, opening their hearts to absorb the lies without believing them? It may not just be Christian believers giving aid to Jews. Watch for humble, God-fearing resisters of the antichrist to also do the right thing.

Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea. Revelation 12:17

This on-going rescue of the Jews creates an additional problem for people of Christian belief—the “rest of her offspring.” Our descent as believers in Jesus is through the Jews for “salvation is of the Jews.”[24] That makes us the target of the dragon’s fury. Wait a minute. Just one verse earlier he was a serpent. As a serpent, he went after the woman. As a dragon, he goes after the Church. This one verse tells us that there will definitely be Christian believers on the earth during the last 3 ½ years of the Tribulation—the period we would all want to avoid. We won’t be trading quips with a snake in the Garden, either. We’ll be up against the full satanic onslaught of a dragon whose foul breath scorches the earth.

We won’t be (as some imagine) a rag-tag group of compromised believers trying to hang on to scraps of faith. John sees deeply committed followers “who keep the commandments of God.” With a courageous and faithful grasp of truth, these offspring of the woman “hold the testimony of Jesus.” This verse also tells us that there will be a lot of us. The dragon, not the serpent of old, is the one who covers the earth. The final image of the dragon in his unfettered fury is of him standing “on the sand of the sea.” Sea often represents humanity. The dragon towers over all he conquers, but he stands on sand. Jesus warned us about building on sand. There is no solid foundation to support him. Lies, threats, and bribes are not enough to secure an empire. Especially, if the invading army is being led by our Lord.

Other Scriptures to Study

1) Further Prophecies Being Fulfilled[25]

In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Isaiah 11:11-12

And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. And they will say, 'This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.' Ezekiel 36:34-35

Thus says the LORD of hosts: Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of great age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. Thus says the LORD of hosts: If it is marvelous in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvelous in my sight, declares the LORD of hosts? Thus says the LORD of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country, and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness." Zechariah 8:4-8

2. Other Prophecies Awaiting Fulfillment

Deuteronomy 30:1-9

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. Isaiah 2:1-4

Isaiah 60:1-62:7

Ezekiel 38:1-17

And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator." Daniel 9:27

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. Micah 4:1-2

Micah 4:3-7

Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'" Zechariah 8:22-23

On that day the LORD will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the LORD, going before them. And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:8-9

Matthew 24:15-28

And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay." Romans 9:27-28

Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob"; "and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins." Romans 11:25-27

Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4

Next Crucial Component

The Two Last Battles  How is it possible that there are two last battles? Shouldn’t one have been catastrophic enough? Couldn’t one have decided the issue once and for all? Wouldn’t one have taught everyone which side to be on for the second? Evidently not. Because there are two “last” battles confusion naturally spreads around them. This makes it difficult to know how they match up with the prophetic texts that describe wars that happen in “the latter days.” The Latter Days cover a lot of time! These colossal conflicts serve as bookends to the Millennium—the thousand years of peace. The first one erupts when Jesus returns to reign and the other explodes after He reigns for one thousand years of unprecedented peace and prosperity. Both battles are gathered into one article here in hopes that it will lessen the confusion to see these accounts in close succession. They have one thing in common: an undefeated Commander.

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Endnotes

[1] Cambridge Dictionary defines speculation as “the act of guessing possible answers to a question without having enough information to be certain.” It derives from the Latin word “speculari” which means “to look at, view, observe” and originally indicated “close observation and intelligent contemplation.” By the late 1500s it gained the disparaging sense it carries today of “mere conjecture.” See etymonline.com.

[2] Please accept my apologies if you are a Jewish reader. This section is intended as instruction for Gentiles—and I’m assuming that Jewish readers would already know these things.

[3] Dictionary.com: rescind and abrogate.

[4] Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Genesis 1:26

[5] So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant. Genesis 17:13-14

[6] Just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." Galatians 3:6-8

[7] The council met to decide just what exactly the new Gentile converts needed to obey or conform to concerning the whole of Jewish law. Their answer was to abstain from idolatry, sexual immorality (the moral code), eating meat of strangled animals and blood. See Acts 15:19-21 and 23-29.

[8] For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Romans 3:20. See also Romans 3-8 and Galatians 2-5.

[9] Dictionary.com:  supersede.

[10] And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Luke 31-33

[11] It is possible that Luke was a Gentile. However, the Jerusalem riot was started not because Paul brought Luke into the Temple compound (which he did), but Trophimus. Why, if Luke was a Gentile was he not also mentioned?

[12] Cornelius is generally credited with being the first Gentile convert, because other Gentiles had already converted to Judaism before becoming Christians (the Ethiopian eunuch and Nicolas of Antioch). It is not known when Cornelius’ conversion happened, but it was after the conversion of Saul and the rein of terror he pursued so vigorously and for so long.

[13] For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jeremiah 31:33-34

[14] I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:25-26

[15] For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16

[16] I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! …God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Romans 11:1-2

[17] Adam is the type; Jesus, the “second Adam” is the antitype: Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. Romans 5:14

[18] I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Genesis 12:3

[19] Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob." Romans 11:25-26

[20] And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' Acts 26:14

[21] Joan Peters, From Time Immemorial, p 161.

[22] For your Maker is your husband; Jehovah of Hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of all the earth. Isaiah 54:5

[23] As of February 2019, roughly the same number of Jews live in the US as in Israel—6 million.

[24] Jesus said to her, Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you shall neither worship the Father in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know, we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. John 4:21-22

[25] Many thanks to the Lamb and Lion Ministries for assembling this. Even so, it is not a complete list.