The third major judgment is the Tribulation Judgment.

Subject: The Jews

Time: The Tribulation Period, Daniel’s seventieth week

Basis or Reason: Rejection of Christ

Result: Conversion of Jews and acceptance of Christ as their Messiah

All who have been born again have come to Calvary: the believer’s judgment. In the Tribulation Period, the Jews at last will come to the believer’s judgment. They will find Calvary. It will be a mighty day for them.

I think of the Jewish people as the wandering Jews. God scattered them among all nations; but He said He would gather them back to the Holy Land, and He is doing just that. God keeps His Word. If God promises good, He stands by it; if He promises judgment, He gives it.

The Jews are an example of God’s keeping His promises of judgment. Because of their disobedience to God, the Jews—the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—have been destroyed as a nation twice. Twice before in history they returned to their homeland and re-established their nation. Now the Jews are returning again. Thirty-five hundred years ago Moses said they would be disciplined as a nation for not believing their God and for rejecting His ways, and it has happened just as he said.

Over twenty-eight hundred years ago, Isaiah the prophet foretold that the Jews would reject Christ: We hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not (Isaiah 53:3). It will take the Tribulation Judgment before Israel as a whole will accept Jesus as their Messiah.

A Valley of Dry Bones

May 14, 1948, David Ben Gurion read a declaration of independence announcing the establishment of a Jewish nation known as the State of Israel. The Lord promised a physical restoration and also a spiritual restoration. Today the physical restoration is taking place right before our very eyes. We are seeing what thus saith the Lord, what the Lord prophesied through various prophets, beginning with Moses. As these prophecies of the physical restoration are all being fulfilled, the Jews are growing closer and closer to their spiritual restoration.

Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones represents the Jewish people. Ezekiel tells us that The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered,O Lord GOD, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live…So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them (Ezekiel 37:1-5,7,8). The bones of the nation of Israel have come together: Israel’s physical restoration. But the bones have no breath. There can be no life apart from Jesus Christ. According to the Word of God, not until the Jews receive Jesus Christ will they receive life, will they begin to breathe at last. Thank God for that coming day of restoration!

Disobedience Brought Captivity

Three thousand years ago the first temple was built by Solomon, a magnificent structure designed by God. How carefully God planned the temple; He filled it with His glory to such an extent that the priests could not stand before the power of God. God had raised up a name for Himself, but it was destroyed through disobedience, through failing God; and the Jews went into Babylonian captivity.

Jerusalem was captured and destroyed in 587 B.C., and the temple burned down. In 538 B.C., Cyrus, king of Persia, captured Babylon and granted permission for the rebuilding of the temple, which was completed in 515 B.C. Toward the end of the first century B.C. Herod decided to replace the temple. Then in 70 A.D., this temple was destroyed completely by Titus and the Roman legions. What sorrow the disobedient Israelites brought upon the Lord their God as well as upon themselves! What heartache! Their judgments have been many.

The Golden Calf Judgment

And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night (Exodus 13:21). God loved the Children of Israel; He had chosen them. They were close to God’s heart. After they had been in Egyptian bondage over four hundred years, God brought them out with a mighty hand. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace (Exodus 14:13,14).

The Israelites saw the judgments, the plagues on Egypt; but they didn’t turn to God for any length of time. God told the Israelites in Numbers 14:29, Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me. God hates a murmuring spirit. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise. I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die (verses 34,35). God declared they would wander forty years as judgment for forty days of disobedience. This was to show that God meant business, that God meant what He said. This was God’s doing, not man’s.

While wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites brought other judgments upon themselves. Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them (Exodus 21:1), the Lord told Moses. Moses, tell them what I will do, how I have to punish sin under the Law. If they don’t obey me, tell them what will happen to them. Did the people take the warnings to heart? No. At the first opportunity while Moses was on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments they built a golden calf to worship.

God sent the golden calf judgment. Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men (Exodus 32:26-28). God intended to bring judgment upon every household of Israel, and that He did. Every family had sorrow, every family saw death. God was angry. The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:30,31).

God means what He says, and when He warns of judgment for the disobedient, it will fall. The Gentiles today are in the same spiritual condition as the Jews in Moses’ day. Many do not think God will bring judgment upon the earth; they scoff at those who believe in the soon coming Tribulation Period. Many, even preachers, doubt the existence of a literal burning hell; but it’s real just the same.

And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book (Exodus 32:31-33). Those who sin, God will blot out of His book. Moses tried to stand between the disobedient and judgment, but God brushed him aside. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah (Numbers 16:44,45,49). Fourteen thousand seven hundred died at one time because of their disobedience, because they wouldn’t do what God had told them to do.

The soul that sinneth, it shall die (Ezekiel 18:20). No matter how many people tell you that sin can get into Heaven, that no one can live free from sin, the fact remains: if you die with sin in your soul you will go to hell.

Many today don’t like ministers who preach the whole Word of God, who say The soul that sinneth shall die. No one can get into Heaven with even one sin. Nevertheless, it is true. You must be rid of the lust of this world and live pure, clean and holy. Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy (I Peter 1:16).

When God tells us He is coming after a Church without spot, wrinkle or blemish, it means only the holy will be taken with Him at the Rapture. Many Gentiles today demonstrate the same spirit of the Israelites of old when they failed God and judgment fell.

God went on to tell Moses: Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made (Exodus 32:34,35).

Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land where into he went; and his seed shall possess it (Numbers 14:22-24).

God Despises Disobedience

In II Samuel 24:15, we read of another great judgment coming upon the Israelite people because David disobeyed God, sinned in numbering the people. So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men. What judgment! Seventy thousand men killed! God did it. That should give you some idea of how God hates disobedience, sin. God despises sin in any form, in anyone. To claim that God will endorse sin is to claim a deadly lie.

Psalm 106 tells why Israel suffered, why they were punished, why God sent judgment upon them in the wilderness and later allowed them to be carried away to Babylon as slaves. Beginning with verse 6: We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly. Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea. Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness. And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left. Then believed they his words; they sang his praise. They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel: But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the LORD (verses 6-16).

The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram. And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the wicked. They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt; Wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red sea. Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them (Psalm 106:17-23).

Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word: But murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the LORD. Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness: To overthrow their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands. They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them. Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed. And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore (Psalm 106:24-31).

They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes: Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips. They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them: But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them. Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood. Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions. Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance. And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them. Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand. Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity. Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry (Psalm 106:32-44).

Scattered among All People of the World

The Jews as a nation were warned again and again of the consequences of disobedience. They wouldn’t heed. Moses told them: And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life: In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you (Deuteronomy 28:64-68). The market was flooded with so many slaves that they had no value; people wouldn’t buy them. God said it would be; God prophesied it through Moses.

The Jews were loved by God in a mighty way, cared for miraculously. He gave them many opportunities to turn to Him; He warned them what would happen if they insisted on their own way. Still they turned away from Him. How the Jews have suffered for it! They have suffered like no other people, and they are still suffering today.

In Babylon their captors wanted them to sing, but they said they had hung their harps on the willows. How, they asked, can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? They lost their song of gladness; they lost their peace, their joy. In a strange land they felt they had nothing to sing about; fear had come in. Days and nights passed, bringing no assurance of living until the next day. They left God, and God left them. Terrible things happened.

God’s Prophets Persecuted

And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand (II Chronicles 36:15-17). God looked on while His words were despised, His prophets misused. Prophet after prophet God sent to the house of Israel; and they were mocked, mistreated, imprisoned, tortured, killed. Over and over the Israelites were warned—just as the Lord is sending preachers today to warn the Gentiles. Like the Israelites of old, many Gentiles despise the true men of God who are living pure and clean and are preaching the Gospel.

Seventy Years of Slavery

And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon (II Chronicles 36:18). God treasured His holy vessels. He had sanctified His house with His own power and greatness, but the Chaldees desecrated and burnt it. And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years (verses 19-21). The Lord foretold through Jeremiah that the Israelites would be slaves for seventy years, and it took place just as the Lord said. What the Lord says will come to pass will take place.

Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD (Isaiah 39:5,6). Nothing remained. What the Babylonians couldn’t carry off they destroyed and burned. They left behind a desolate land.

And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon (Isaiah 39:7). It happened just as the Lord said. The king’s family was carried away, his sons made eunuchs. God is a God of judgment. That’s the reason Jesus came, bled and died—so that all could, through His sacrifice, receive pardon for the judgment rightfully deserved.

Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations (Jeremiah 25:9). And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years (Isaiah 39:11).

What happened to Jeremiah for warning the people? Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks (Jeremiah 20:2). The people who imprisoned Jeremiah hated him because he was a true prophet of God, and they didn’t want God. Jeremiah, God’s mouthpiece, told the people whatever the Lord wanted him to tell, exactly as God said it.

A Spiritual Restoration

Ezekiel speaks of the spiritual restoration of Israel as well as her judgments: For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them (Ezekiel 36:24-27). How will this happen? Through Calvary, through the shed blood of Jesus our Savior, Lord and Master.

Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore (Ezekiel 37:26). God’s sanctuary will be built; and it will last forever.

The 38th and 39th chapters of Ezekiel describe the beginning of what will cause the Jews to believe in Jesus Christ, what will shock them into believing, into accepting Him: Russia will go down on Israel in a period of great tribulation.

Seven Months to Bury the Dead

After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them (Ezekiel 38:8). And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog [Russia’s leader] shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face (verse 18). Russia is keeping her eye on the Holy Land.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog. And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD (Ezekiel 39:11-13). And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons…So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire (verses 9,10). Seven months to bury the dead, and seven years to clean up the battlefield: what a time of horror Armageddon will be! Jewish prophets foretold all these things.

God Will Make His Name Known

For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall,and every wall shall fall to the ground. And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against this brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD (Ezekiel 38:19-23). The whole world will be aware of God’s judgments on Russia in the Holy Land. It will make nations realize that God is God indeed, that He means what He says in His Holy Word. There is no way of stopping His judgments.

So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel (Ezekiel 39:7). How will the Lord make His holy name known? Through Jesus His Son. And thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken (Ezekiel 39:8). So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward. And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword. (verses 22,23). The heathen must know what caused the sufferings of Israel: sinning against God. Israel became weak when they turned away from God.

A Man of Sorrows

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3). Yes, I say again, the Jewish people despised Him, rejected Him. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken (verse 8). For the transgression of the Jewish people Jesus died. Because they would not accept the price He paid, the verdict was guilty. The verdict could have been pardoned, not guilty any longer; but they rejected Him, the Son of the living God. How tragic! Think of the chaos that awaits them as a nation in the Tribulation Period. They have been through much, and the worst is yet to come. I pity them struggling in the dark because they don’t have the One who is the light of the world. In the pathway of that light lies that great, terrible Battle of Armageddon.

God Will Hide His Face

According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them (Ezekiel 39:24). When God hides His face from people for all eternity, it will be horror beyond the imagination. If you don’t accept Jesus Christ the Son of God, if you don’t live for Him, one day God will turn His back on you for time and eternity.

But God Will Have Mercy on the Whole House of Israel

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name (Ezekiel 39:25). Here God is no longer dealing with the Church but with the Jews. The true Church has been caught away with Jesus at the Rapture of the Bride of Christ.

These Tribulation scriptures deal with Daniel’s seventieth week of years. Four hundred ninety years were declared upon the Jewish people. Sixty-nine weeks of years, or 483 years, have been fulfilled up to the crucifixion of Christ. At the time the Gentile dispensation came in, the Jewish dispensation left the stage of action. For about 2,000 years now the Lord has been dealing with the Church. The Church will leave the stage of action at the second coming of Christ, and once again the Lord will deal with the Jews.

After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid (Ezekiel 39:26). They will never be afraid again, God is saying. Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there (verse 28). God has gathered many Jews back to Israel already, and He is still gathering them from all nations. As the Gentiles look upon this miracle of regathering, many do not recognize what is taking place; they are lukewarm, sleepy. Many in the Christian world fail to recognize this end time hour. They don’t know that God has restored the physical body of Israel and is preparing to restore the spiritual body. God help us to see your hand in this hour!

God Will Pour Out His Spirit

Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD (Ezekiel 39:29). God is pouring out His Spirit, and He will never hide His face from the house of Israel again. However, not until Israel accepts His Son will His Spirit be poured out in its fullness.

And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends (Zechariah 13:6). With His great love, Jesus is calling the Jews His friends. My friends did it to me. It makes me want to weep. Help us to do all, precious Lord, that you want us to do. You have been disappointed so many times, so many have failed you; but help us, God, not to fail your Son Jesus in this final hour.

And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first born. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon (Zechariah 12:10,11). These verses describe the day when Israel will find Calvary, their Calvary judgment. The Christians received their Calvary judgment; now the Jews are about to receive theirs. As at one time the Christians stood guilty before the Lord, the Jews stand guilty; but the verdict will be pardon for all who turn to Jesus. Jesus took our place; He died in our stead. Because of it, He could cry to the Father: Pardoned, pardoned!

There is no need to blame the Jewish people on Earth today for crucifying Jesus. They had no control over it; their ancestors were the ones. When the one-third remaining Jews realize that Jesus really is the very Son of God, it will tear them apart; they will mourn greatly. The Bible stresses the depth of their mourning, the immensity of their sorrow. Verses 12-14 tell how families will mourn in groups when they realize Jesus is truly their Messiah, crucified by their own people.They pierced Him, refused to accept Him or recognize Him as very God, calling Him an impostor, a false one. And yet God will honor His covenant. The Lord has forgiveness for the Jews as He has for the Gentiles. He will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem grace and supplications.

Refined as Silver

And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name,and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God (Zechariah 13:8,9). God will bring a third part of Israel through the fire, through the Tribulation, and will refine them as silver. The other two-thirds of the nation will be killed in the Battle of Armageddon. A Jesus-believing nation will be born in the land of Israel.

And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob (Romans 11:26). All that are left of Israel will be saved, one-third of them. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins (verse 27). God made this covenant with them, and He keeps His covenants.

Who Hath Known the Mind of the Lord?

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out (Romans 11:33)! How wonderful is God’s wisdom and knowledge; how unsearchable His judgments! We will never understand all the ways of God, His might and greatness. Who is the man who would presume to counsel God?

We live in an hour when people have set themselves above God. How many preachers today warn of the judgments of God? How many preach just a little love story and brush away His judgments?

For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor (Romans 11:34)? Who hath known the mind of the Lord? Did God consult man to help plan His judgments? Even when Moses offered his opinions on judgment, God ignored them. God didn’t leave His decisions up to Moses, as great as Moses was in the Lord.

God has perfect wisdom and knowledge, and He knows what judgments should be handed out for each person, for each crime. The judgments of God are out of man’s hands. Man cannot plan or stop the judgments of God any more than he can hold all the waters of the seas in a thimble. Yet the devil deceives man again and again about judgment as he deceived the couple in the Garden of Eden. Adam, Eve, the devil said, nothing will happen to you for disobeying God. In fact, you will be wiser, happier. They listened to him and were driven out of Eden in spiritual death.

Satan told the Israelites the same kind of lies. Make the golden calf; return to the gods of Egypt. It won’t matter to God. He won’t bring judgment. God did bring judgment. Three thousand men were killed, and God plagued the people. Go ahead, David, and number the people. You are king. David listened to the enemy, and 70,000 died. Through the ages, Israel as a whole has been deceived.

Wonder-Working Power in the Blood of the Lamb

All harbored stony hearts before they came to Calvary. A heart without Jesus is always stony, but a heart washed in the blood of the Lamb is tender, one that will accept all of God. When you accept the whole Bible, you have accepted all of God.

Imagine what it will be like in the Tribulation Period when those who never have believed in Christ find the power of Calvary as we know the power of Calvary today. The wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb will no longer be a mystery to them. At last they will be cleansed. At last God will be able to take out their stony hearts and give them hearts of flesh.

How wonderful it will be when Israel accepts Jesus as Redeemer! I can see the tears streaming down their face, hear them cry in one voice: O, Lord Jesus, we do believe! Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God! As God pours His Spirit upon them, their sins will all be washed away.

I know what they will experience because it happened to me the night I found Calvary. I took Jesus to be my Redeemer. The power in His blood is real; it washed away all my sin. Jesus makes new creatures out of sinners. He made one out of me, and He will make new creatures out of the remnant of the Jews. At last the promises of God will be fulfilled as Israel is restored physically and spiritually. All who are saved by the blood of the Lamb will be with Jesus in the Perfect Age when He sets up His Kingdom for 1,000 years here on planet Earth.

Since our sins have been judged and washed away, we must stay free and live free from all sin, or we will be judged accordingly. God judges sin. He will not accept sin of any kind.

A Fountain Opened

In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness (Zechariah 13:1). A sin-cleansing fountain is opened for the Jewish nation, a fountain for the whole house of David, for every Jew upon Earth at that time. All who plunge beneath its flow will be cleansed from all iniquity. What a glad day that will be for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Today the Call Is to the Gentile Bride

He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name (John 1:11,12). When the Jews rejected Jesus, He turned His face toward the Gentiles, inviting them to come.

Have you answered the call to the Gentile Bride? God is dealing with her now. She is upon planet Earth and soon will take her flight. After almost two thousand years, the Gentile dispensation is about to close. Daniel’s prophesied seventieth week for the Jews will soon begin. For seven years the Tribulation Period will last.

I delight to see God gathering the Jews back from all nations, knowing they will be restored spiritually as well as physically, brought into the divine love and favor of God, new creatures. The sorrow, heartache, despair the Lord has gone through because of man’s disobedience…how glad He will be when all is restored!

The Tribulation Judgment is the judgment of the Jews

The time: The Tribulation Period, Daniel’s seventieth week

The place: Jerusalem and vicinity

The basis or reason: The rejection of Christ

The result: The acceptance by the Jews of their Messiah

Thus Saith the Lord

I have given you my prophecies. I have given them to you so that you will know that that which I have prophesied to you will come to pass, saith the Lord. I have prophesied many things to this people, and I will keep my promises. And I will give you faith—if you will yield to me in love so that I can fulfill my promises that I have made you. But take heed: You must not fail me or hinder me [so] that I cannot fulfill my promises for you.

I have given you many promises, but you must walk in my faith and in my love. You must do my will and be humble before me. You must be pure and clean and holy in my presence. You must not disobey me. You cannot be disobedient to my Word and expect me to keep my promises of greatness that I have given to you.

Walk with me, and I will lead you into the fulfillment of all of my promises that I have promised. Do not hinder me. Be all that I want you to be. I have made it possible for you to be everything that I desire you to be. I have given you power over all the powers of Lucifer, over all the powers of darkness. I have given you a love that you do not have to be afraid. I have given you a love that destroys all fear that Lucifer will bring to you. I have given you my grace, and it is beyond you. It is so great that no human mind can comprehend the greatness of my grace. It will take an eternity for my people to understand my grace, saith the Lord. But remember, my grace is sufficient for you. My grace will give you my overcoming power. My grace will give you my love. My grace will give you my faith daily. My grace will clothe you in my armor. My grace will make it impossible for the devil to defeat you. All you have to do is to use my grace at all times, saith the Lord. Look to me, and I will be your strength, and I will be your help. And you will not be defeated, saith the Lord.