The Time of Jacob's Trouble; When Does It Begin?
How awful that day will be! No other will be like it. It will be a time
of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it. (Jeremiah 30:7).
The Time of Jacob's Trouble, When Does It Begin?
...there will be a time of distress such as has not happened
from the beginning of nations until then. (Daniel 12:1).
Introduction.
Scripture speaks of a time of tribulation, which will be a time of distress such as has not happened since the beginning of nations, right up to the present. Today's religions have many names for this time period they call: [the Tribulation, the Apocalypse, Armageddon, the end of days, the end-times, the great and terrible day of the 'lord'] among others. Jeremiah called this time period 'The time of Jacob's trouble', and it is upon us now. Though not yet in full force, it is increasing in intensity. This is the subject of today's study. The book of Daniel is prophecy and nearly all of it was fulfilled with the Maccabees before the fall of the second Temple. Some say the book of Daniel is nothing that our modern-day society should worry about. Yet, some of the prophecies are for our present time called 'the time of the end', and are in the process of being fulfilled now:
(Daniel 12:4)[1] (KJV) But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
(Daniel 12:9) (KJV) And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
Nebuchadnezzar's Dream (Daniel 2:1-49), summarized from the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible:
(Daniel 2:1-6) (NIV) 1In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep. 2So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed. When they came in and stood before the king, 3he said to them, I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means. 4Then the astrologers answered the king, May the king live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it. 5The king replied to the astrologers, This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble. 6But if you tell me the dream and explain it, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. So tell me the dream and interpret it for me.
(Daniel 2:10-13) (NIV) 10The astrologers answered the king, There is no one on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. 11What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the 'gods', and they do not live among humans. 12This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. 13So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death.
(Daniel 2:24-28) (NIV) 24Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, Do not execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will interpret his dream for him. 25Arioch took Daniel to the king at once and said, I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means. 26The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it? 27Daniel replied, No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, 28but there is a 'God' in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you were lying in bed are these:
The wise men had no idea what the King had dreamed, but Daniel said he would tell the King the answer because the ETERNAL gave Daniel the dream and its meaning. Daniel first thanked [Yahweh] for making the dream and its meaning known (Daniel 2:20-23), and then he explained it.
The Dream:
(Daniel 2:31-35) (NIV) 31Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue, an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
The Interpretation:
The dream encompasses the time between Nebuchadnezzar's ancient Babylonian empire, and the end-time of Jacob's Trouble, in these the latter days.
(Daniel 2:36-43) (NIV) 36This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The SOVEREIGN of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. 39After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. 40Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, for iron breaks and smashes everything, and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. 41Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. 42As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
To summarize the various kingdoms in the dream:
1. The head was gold, Babylonian Empire.
2. The chest and arms of silver, Medo-Persian Empire.
3. The belly and thighs of bronze, Hellenistic Greek Empire.
4. The legs of iron, Roman Empire. After Rome, no foreign government ruled the Middle East until Britain did.
5. The feet and toes as a mixture of iron and clay, British & American Empires (Hebrews*).
* Any peoples [nations] who's linage passes through Abraham to Jacob, are Hebrews.
The key to these end-time events, lies in non-Hebrew nations intermingling with Hebrew nations, which leads directly to the Hebrew nations collapsing and being taken captive for the last time:
(Daniel 2:41-43) (NIV) 41Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. 42As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
Do you grasp the significance of Daniel's prophesy? Daniel is telling us about the coming fall of the modern-day Hebrew nations of England, America, Australia, Europe, and others. All these nations are now breaking apart internally, caused by the forced migrations of people due to the non-ending wars of aggression perpetrated by our governments, while the press plays a major role gleefully cheerleading these illegal immigrations, ultimately to usher in this prophesied catastrophic breakup and captivity of these Hebrew nations. Daniel is telling us that diversity brings weakness, whereas unity brings strength. Have you ever heard the saying: 'United we stand; divided we fall'? The nations are being weakened right before our very eyes, just as Daniel's prophesy proclaims.
Why is the ETERNAL letting this happen to His people? Because America and the British Commonwealth of nations do not worship the one ETERNAL CREATOR and SOVEREIGN of the universe 'Yahweh of hosts'. Since the death of King Solomon the Hebrew lineage has worshiped a false religion of two or three beings, but not the ETERNAL true Supreme Being [Yahweh], to whom that worship truly belongs.
Even the Jews do not follow the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament or Tanakh), because they have their own book "The Talmud", that they follow. Don't be fooled by those who's responsibility it is to teach us the truth; They teach lies and deceptions for truth. Here is what the Almighty SOVEREIGN of the universe has to say about them:
(Hosea 4:6)[1] (TLB) My people are destroyed because they don't know Me, and it is all your fault, you priests, for you yourselves refuse to know Me; therefore, I refuse to recognize you as My priests. Since you have forgotten My laws, I will 'forget' to bless your children. - (ALL Versions)
(Malachi 2:1-3) (LEB) 1And so then, O priests, this command is for you: 2If you will not listen, and if you will not take it to heart to give glory to My Name, says Yahweh of hosts, then I will send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings; moreover I have already cursed them because you are not taking it to heart. 3Look! I am going to rebuke your offspring, and I will scatter offal on your faces, the offal of your religious feasts, and you will be carried to it.
We, who comprise the modern-day Hebrew nations of England, America, Australia, Europe, and others, can halt this progression of trouble, by returning to once again worship the 'True' CREATOR, and SOVEREIGN of the universe, the Only [Redeemer, Rock, and Savior*] of mankind:
(Deuteronomy 4:39) (WEB) Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that Yahweh he is SOVEREIGN in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
(Psalm 95:1) (WEB) Oh come, let's sing to Yahweh. Let's shout aloud to the rock of our salvation!
(Isaiah 42:8) (ERV) I am Yahweh: that is My name. I will not give My glory to another. I will not let statues take the praise that should be Mine.
(Isaiah 43:3) (TLB) "For I am The ETERNAL YOUR CREATOR, YOUR SAVIOR, the Holy One of Israel.
(Isaiah 43:11) (WEB) I, even I, am Yahweh; and beside me there is no saviour.
(Isaiah 44:6) (LEB) "Thus says Yahweh, the king of Israel, and its redeemer, Yahweh of hosts: "I am the first, and I am the last, and there is no CREATOR besides Me".
(Isaiah 44:8) (NCV) Don't be afraid! Don't worry! I have always told you what will happen. You are my witnesses. There is no other CREATOR but me. I know of no other Rock; I am the only One.
(Isaiah 44:24) (HCSB) This is what the ETERNAL, your Redeemer who formed you from the womb, says: I am Yahweh, who made everything; who stretched out the heavens by Myself; who alone spread out the earth;
(Isaiah 45:21) (BRG) Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I Yahweh? and there is no CREATOR else beside me; a just CREATOR and a Saviour; there is none beside me.
(Isaiah 47:4) (HCSB) The Holy One of Israel is our Redeemer; Yahweh of Hosts is His name.
(Hosea 13:4) (KJV) Yet I am the ETERNAL your SOVEREIGN ever since the land of Egypt, and you shall know no CREATOR but Me; for there is no Savior besides Me".
(Zechariah 14:9) (BRG) And Yahweh shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Yahweh, and his name one.
*Here are a few more Scriptures that prove this: (Deuteronomy 4:35; Deuteronomy 6:4-6; 2 Samuel 7:22, Psalms 106:21; Isaiah 41:13-14; Jeremiah 14:7-8; Hosea 13:4, Zechariah 14:4). No matter how many ways the Almighty says it, or how many times we read it, it just does not seem to sink in: I, even I, am Yahweh; and beside Me there is no saviour! (Isaiah 43:11).
The Final Events That Usher In True Peace On Earth:
To bring all the remaining modern-day Hebrews (the 13 tribes), out of captivity*, starts with the Advent of the Mashiach, the awakened King David:
(Isaiah 11:1-3) (NIV) 1A shoot [David in human form] will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch [David converted into a spitirual being] will bear fruit. 2The Spirit of the ETERNAL will rest on him, the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the ETERNAL 3and he will delight in the fear of the ETERNAL.
(Ezekiel 37:24-25) (TLB) 24And David, my Servant, the Messiah, shall be their King, their only Shepherd; and they shall obey my laws and all my wishes. 25They shall live in the land of Israel where their fathers lived, the land I gave my servant Jacob. They and their children after them shall live there, and their grandchildren, for all generations. And my Servant David, their Messiah, shall be their Prince forever.
*Refer to the article: 'Reuniting The Tribes Of Israel'.
Then the Davidic Kingdom is set up and there is finally worldwide peace in the The Wonderful World Of Tomorrow:
(Daniel 2:44-45) (NIV) 44In the time of those kings, the SOVEREIGN of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands, a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. The great ETERNAL SOVEREIGN has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.
(Isaiah 11:10-12) (NIV) 10In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. 11In that day the ETERNAL will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean. 12He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth.
(Isaiah 11:6) (NIV) The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.
That is how it will be, and we can be a part of making that happen, but only if we return to the true CREATOR, and worship Him ONLY.
The Almighty CREATOR And ETERNAL SOVEREIGN Of
The Universe Extends An Invitation To Return To Him.
The ETERNAL CREATOR wants you to love Him, as He loves you. Until He returns to gather His people and reunite the tribes of Israel during the time of Jacob's trouble, He wants you to seek for Him, and honor all of His commandments and way of life:
(Deuteronomy 4:29-31) (KJV) 29But if from thence thou shalt seek the ETERNAL thy CREATOR, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. 30When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the ETERNAL thy CREATOR, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; 31(For the ETERNAL thy CREATOR is a merciful SOVEREIGN;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
(Deuteronomy 30:10) (KJV) If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the ETERNAL thy CREATOR, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the ETERNAL thy CREATOR with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
(Deuteronomy 30:15-20) (KJV) 15See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; 16In that I command thee this day to love the ETERNAL thy CREATOR, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the ETERNAL thy CREATOR shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. 17But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other 'gods', and serve them; 18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. 19I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 20That thou mayest love the ETERNAL thy CREATOR, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the ETERNAL sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
(Leviticus 26:39-42) (KJV) 39And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them. 40If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; 41And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: 42Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.
(2 Chronicles 15:4) (KJV) But when they in their trouble did turn unto the ETERNAL SOVEREIGN of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.
(2 Chronicles 15:15) (KJV) And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the ETERNAL gave them rest round about.
(Nehemiah 1:9) (KJV) But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.
(Isaiah 55:6-7) (KJV) 6Seek ye the ETERNAL while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the ETERNAL, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our ETERNAL SOVEREIGN, for he will abundantly pardon.
(Jeremiah 3:12-14) (KJV) 12Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the ETERNAL; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the ETERNAL, and I will not keep anger for ever. 13Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the ETERNAL thy CREATOR, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the ETERNAL. 14Turn, O backsliding children, saith the ETERNAL; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
(Jeremiah 29:12-14) (BRG) 12Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 14And I will be found of you, saith the ETERNAL: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the ETERNAL; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
The ETERNAL will then regather and reunite all the remaining [believing] tribes of Israel back to Jerusalem where they will be established as sons and daughters, and great kingdom of priests, a holy nation of the ETERNAL for all eternity. (Exodus 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 28:1-14; Isaiah 60-62; Micah 4:1-7; Isaiah 43:1-7; Isaiah 63:15-19; Jeremiah 31:31-40; Hosea 11:1-11.)
Footnotes:
[1] [a]All scriptural links point to the Bible Gateway, A Searchable Online Bible In Over 100 Versions And 50 Languages, located at "BibleGateway.Com", a vast biblical resource containing all the major texts and reference materials useful for in-depth bible studies. Most scriptual quotations are from the (KJV) of the Bible, however versions noted in (parentheses) should also be consulted. [b]All Strong's scriptural references point to the Blue Letter Bible Lexicon, located at "BlueLetterBible.Org", another vast biblical resource which has over 4,000,000 links available, pointing to more than 165,000 pages of concordances, lexicons, dictionaries, commentaries, images, and several Bible versions.