Israel in Tribulation

By David Allen Lewis, D.D., Litt.D.
President, Christians United for Israel, Springfield, Missouri

Israel has always been a troubled people, her existence threatened, her survival hangs by the slenderest of threads. Surrounded by hostile neighbors who have sworn themselves to her destruction, she is presently beset by malicious media, greedy politicians, manipulators and opportunists holding on to life with the most tenuous grasp.

Will this wife of Jehovah survive? Will the days of rest and restoration come at last or is the modern state of Israel only a momentary aberration upon the pages of history?

Having passed through the furnace of affliction, the Jews are now hounded by revisionists, who accuse the survivors of Nazi Germany of inventing the Holocaust to win sympathy.

The Church would do well to rediscover the Biblical meaning of Zion. We should rediscover those heroic Christians who have a zeal and compassion for Jerusalem, who battle racism, prejudice and hatred for the Jews. Above all, let the Word of God convince us of what the Lord has at stake in Israel: Ezekiel 36. The holiness of God and the return of the Jews to the land should captivate every believer in Christ. Shades of blindness should be removed from the eyes of the uninformed and the misinformed.

The task of informing others about the tribulations of the nation and people of Israel is not for the fainthearted, the bigot, nor the ignorant. Our purpose is to help serious, thoughtful people get an insight into the major issues of our times. Christians who are lovers of Zion deal with the most serious of problems and the darkest of fears, yet their message is one of hope, both for the present and the future.

Will Israel survive in this hostile environment? The answer is yes, but everyone has serious choices before him or her. The Church, the Jewish people, politicians and the nations of the world are undergoing a litmus test. Under God’s watchful eye, performances are evaluated and futures predicated, based not only on the exercise of our faith, but also on our relationship to the Jewish people.

The ultimate outcome of these choices is yet to come. The worst of times ever faced by humanity may be near at hand. Called the “the time of Jacob’s trouble” 2600 years ago, it can now be labeled the “time of Gentile trouble” as well. The book of Revelation states at least 50 percent of earth’s population will die during those horrendous seven years of the Tribulation: Revelation 6.8 and 9.15-18. Only Israel is promised survival. Other nations may survive, in reduced capacity, but only Jerusalem has been promised continued existence.

At the end of the Tribulation:

All Gentile nations will come against Jerusalem to make war against God’s chosen people: Zechariah 12 – 14. This will be the final provocation of the divine anger. Our Lord, the Messiah Himself, will lead Heaven’s hosts for the final conflict of this age. The Battle of Armageddon shall be fought and won by the Son of God. Only Judah is seen standing on god’s side against the antiChrist and his band of incorrigible rebels: Zechariah 14.14.
All Israel shall be saved: Romans 11.26,27.
God will remove iniquity from the land in a single day: Zechariah 3.9.
God will demonstrate His sovereignty: Isaiah 43.25 and 48.11.
Jesus will return to Jerusalem and reign over all the earth: Zechariah 14.1-3.