Storm Warning: The Sign of Israel (Part 3 of 3)

In this series, we’ve been looking at a sign of Israel that has been largely overlooked. It’s about the Jewish preparations for the Messiah. In Part 1, we learned about the events leading up to the Jewish people fulfilling Bible prophecy by once more being in control of the Holy Land and their capital, Jerusalem. Now we’ll be shocked at what the Bible has to prophesy once the Third Temple has been built.

The Second Holocaust

God began to move on Jewish hearts in the 1890s to return to Israel. At that time, there were only 40,000 Jews dwelling in all of Israel. By the end of World War II, there were 600,000. Today there are 7 million! Half the Jews in the world today live in Israel because there are approximately 14 million Jews in the whole world.

Why is God motivating these Jewish people to go back home? It’s because God has a plan for their salvation. The Bible says a great remnant of the Jewish people will be saved.

How is God going to do that? Well, the first step is to regather them all to the land of Israel. He began that in the 1890s. They have come from all over the world, from 120 different countries, speaking probably that many different languages. They are streaming back to their land, but there are still half of them in the world yet to come. I believe that the second half is going to arrive during the first years of the Tribulation because the Antichrist is going to make a peace treaty with Israel that guarantees Israel’s security.

Under the guise of peace, the Antichrist is going to go forth and conquer the world. He’s going to launch a major war of world domination. That war is going to morph into a nuclear war, according to the Trumpet Judgments. As he’s conquering the world, half of the world’s population will be dying, and so the one place of safety is going to be Israel. It’s like the Jews all over the world will be going back to Israel as fast as they can get there because they know that will be the only place of safety for them.

Then we’re told that in the middle of the tribulation when the Temple is rebuilt and finally finished, the Antichrist will go to Jerusalem to dedicate the Temple. And then, to the astonishment of the Jewish people, he will declare himself to be God! At this point, the Jewish people will totally reject the Antichrist. The Antichrist will then be possessed by Satan. He will decide that he is going to pick up where Hitler left off, for he’s going to try to wipe the Jewish people off of the face of the earth. He’s going to try to annihilate every single Jew.

During the second half of the Tribulation, the Antichrist is going to focus on annihilating the Jewish people. That’s the reason why Jesus referred to the second half of the Tribulation as the Great Tribulation. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be greater than the first half. During the first three and a half years, one half of the world’s population is going to die. That’s why Jesus referred to the second half as the Great Tribulation because he was speaking to a Jewish audience. It’s going to be the Great Tribulation for the Jewish people. Having fully regathered, many will then have to flee Israel. Many will flee into the area today known as Jordan, and we know that the Antichrist will be kept out of that nation. As it says so in Daniel 11, he will not be allowed in. The fleeing Jews will hide maybe in the city of Petra. We don’t know for sure exactly where in Jordan, but they’re going to run there for safety.

So, the first thing that God is going to do is regather the Jewish people from all over the world. The Antichrist is going to then be possessed by Satan. Satan is going to be determined to utterly destroy the Jewish people. Satan hates the Jewish people with an overwhelming passion. That’s the reason he tried to annihilate them in the Holocaust. He hates them because God called them to be His witnesses to the world. He hates them because it’s through Israel that God gave the world the Bible. Satan hates the Jews because through them God provided the Messiah. He hates them because God has promised that one day He will bring a remnant to salvation. And, Satan also hates them because God has promised that through Israel God is going to bless all of the nations of the world so much so that during the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ as one Jew walks by ten Gentiles will grab a hold of his robe and ask, “Let us walk with you because we know that God is with you.”

So, tragically, there is another Holocaust ahead for the Jewish people. Zechariah prophesies that during the Tribulation two-thirds of the Jewish people will die, but one-third will live to the end of that time. And, at the end of the Tribulation, the remnant is going to look upon the Messiah as He arrives on that Mount of Olives. They are going to look upon Him and weep and wail and mourn as one weeps over the loss of an only son. They’re going to cry out from the depths of their hearts, “Baruch haba b’shem Adonai,” meaning “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”

I think it’s very interesting that whereas the Christian churches teach that God has washed His hands of the Jews and has no purpose left for them, Jesus Himself said He will not return to this earth until the Jewish people are willing to say “Baruch haba b’shem Adonai,” meaning “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Jesus Himself said that in Matthew 23:39.

The Sleeping Church

Today, Orthodox Jews from all over the world are yearning for the coming of their Messiah. They’re not going to be surprised by His arrival. Not at all! They’re going to be surprised by His identity. The sad thing is that while the Jewish Orthodox Jews are yearning for the Messiah, the Church is yawning about the Messiah. The Church is fast asleep. The Church could care less.

And, why is that? Because the Church is so ignorant of Bible prophecy. The Church needs to wake up! It needs to wake up to the glorious blessings that lie ahead of us because at any moment, Jesus is going to appear in the heavens and the great Rapture of the Church is going to occur. Those saved are going to be caught up with Christ before this terrible period of Tribulation begins.

Once in Heaven, Christians will receive our eternal rewards. At the end of that time, we’re going to sit down with our Lord Jesus and we’re going to celebrate the greatest feast that the cosmos has ever known — the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. At the end of that feast, Jesus is going to stand up and He’s going to say, “Let’s go!” He’s then going to break from the heavens and we’re going to come with Him — hundreds of millions of glorified saints. We’re going to come back with our King!

We will be there hovering in the heavens over the Mount of Olives as Jesus lands on that mount and it splits in half and we’ll hear Jesus speak a supernatural word. There’s not going to be a Battle of Armageddon. He’s not going to battle anybody. Jesus is going to speak a supernatural word, and when He does, all of the forces of the Antichrist are going to drop dead in their tracks as if a neutron bomb had gone off.

Next, Jesus is going to begin to reign in glory and majesty from Mount Zion in Jerusalem. He’ll usher in a new age of peace, righteousness, and justice which will flood the earth as the waters cover the sea. Christians in our glorified bodies will be scattered across the revitalized earth to help Jesus in His reign.

At the end of that thousand-year time period, Jesus Christ is going to take us off this earth and place us in that glorious New Jerusalem that He’s been building. From that vantage point, we’re going to see the greatest fireworks display in all of history as God super-heats this earth, burning away the pollution of Satan’s last revolt.

Then He’s going to lower us down in our new bodies in the New Jerusalem to a New Earth to live in the presence of God Almighty forever and ever. When you know all of that, you don’t yawn. When you know that, you get up every morning, you look at the sky and you shout, “Maranatha, Maranatha, Maranatha, come quickly, Lord Jesus.” Amen and amen!