This is the whole point behind the time of Jacob's trouble, and one of the strongest reasons I know why the Church will not and cannot possibly be here for it. It has nothing to do with the Church, it is a JUDGEMENT on Israel.
"The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein." Amos 6:8 (KJV)
Have you ever read through the little book of Amos of the Old Testament? Perhaps you glanced through it once or twice, but never really dug deep into it because, honestly, it just didn't seem all that interesting. Well, too bad. Because if you like end time Bible prophecy, the book of Amos is one of the most exciting and revealing books in the Bible that describes tons of events that take place during the time of Jacob's trouble.
"And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither." Amos 1;2 (KJV)
Verse two in the first chapter may sound familiar to you, especially if you read the book of Joel right before reading Amos. Amos 1:2 is a time clue reference, and it repeats what we read in Joel 3:16. So from that we know right from the opening of Amos, that the time in which Amos vision will take place will be in the time of Jacob's trouble. Otherwise known as the Great Tribulation from Matthew 24, and Revelation 6 - 19.
Right off the bat, Amos launches into a series of intense judgments that fall on places connected with
the time of Jacob's trouble leading into the Second Coming of Jesus Christ at the Battle of Armageddon. Take a look at the list and you will see immediately what I mean:
- Damascus in Syria, north of Galilee.
- Gaza where the mythical present-day region of Palestine is located.
- Tyrus north of Palestine.
- Edom south of the Dead Sea.
- Ammon east of Jordan, and above the Dead Sea.
- Moab east of Jordan opposite the Dead Sea
- Judah
- Israel
So as we travel through the opening chapters of the book of Amos, we see that God is drawing our attention to areas in the end times where His judgment is going to fall either at the beginning, middle or end of the Battle of Armageddon. This is the main thrust of Amos' vision, he takes us from the start of judgement in the time of Jacob's trouble, and ends up all the way with a restored Israel during the 1,000 Year Reign of Jesus Christ from Jerusalem.
But as you have already noted from our bullet point list, Israel is included in God's judgments as well.
Starting in chapter 2, God begins laying out His grievances with His chosen people for their rebellion and iniquities, and by chapter 3 really lets them have it.
"Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." Amos 3:1,2 (KJV)
God continues through chapters 4 and 5 describing the coming time of affliction to Israel for their transgressions. This is the whole point behind the time of Jacob's trouble, and one of the strongest reasons I know why the Church will not and cannot possibly be here for it. It has nothing to do with the Church, it is a JUDGEMENT on Israel.
"Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel. The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up."Amos 5:1,2 (KJV)
Take modern-day Israel, right now in 2017. In just about 7 weeks from now, they will celebrate their 69th years of being regathered back in the Biblical land of Israel. It is an amazing fulfillment of Bible prophecy that they are even back there. They are the blooming fig tree from Matthew 24. But look closer at Israel, and what do you see? You see a nation that mentions the Lord God only in passing, as a point of historical interest, or parlaying their rich history into tourist dollars.
But Israel in 2017 has become the LGBTQP capital of the world in Tel Aviv, something for which the Bible says God destroyed both Sodom and Gomorrah. An article in the Boston Globe calls Tel Aviv "
THE GAYEST CITY ON EARTH". Any fear of God in their eyes? Nope. None at all.
And because Israel will not return to the LORD, the LORD is going to send judgement on His own chosen people the Jews, and in His own chosen land of Israel. He is going to do it with the judgments of fire, hail, pestilence and famine that the book of Revelation says will fall down from the sky, and by raising up the Antichrist to attack and besiege them from ground level.
Are you one of those people who are looking forward to the Day of the Lord? God warns you against it. This is the opposite of what happens at the Rapture of the Church, which Paul says is our "blessed hope" and a "comfort".
"Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?"Amos 5:18-20 (KJV)
Chapter after chapter, God delves deeper and deeper into why He is causing this time of judgment to fall on His own people. He is going to shake Israel and its inhabitants to their very core to remove from them the iniquity that is keeping them from a right relationship with Him.
"Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD. For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth." Amos 9:8,9 (KJV)
Then after 7 solid chapters of judgement on Israel in the time of Jacob's trouble, God devotes the last 5 verses of Amos to describing Israel's restoration. And it's beautiful.
"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 his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God." Amos 9:11-15 (KJV)
Yes, Israel's glory is yet still future, and it is amazing. But in order to get to that point, they will have to endure the greatest, single event of tribulation in human history. The vision of Amos tells us what's coming for them, and more importantly why it's coming for them.
The Church will not be here for this time, but you can right now pray for the Jewish people and for the nation of Israel. As Bible believers, we can see this coming from miles away, but they cannot. When the time of Jacob's trouble begins, they will be utterly unaware what's happening to them. Even though their own Book describes it in great and graphic detail.
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