“I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters.”
Late last week in an online report the Anti-Defamation League released preliminary data from their centre on Extremism revealing an increase in online and real-world incidents of antisemitism in the United States since the most recent outbreak of violence between Israel and Hamas. In the report it stated; “As the violence between Israel and Hamas continues to escalate, we are witnessing a dangerous and drastic surge in anti-Jewish hate right here at home,” said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. “We are tracking acts of harassment, vandalism and violence as well as a torrent of online abuse. It’s happening around the world, from London to Los Angeles, from France to Florida, in big cities like New York and in small towns, and across every social media platform.”
According to the report ADL has documented disturbing antisemitism on multiple platforms, from Facebook and Twitter to TikTok and Instagram with messages including explicit praise for Hitler, promoting tropes about Jewish control and demonizing all Jews. Between May 7 and May 14, 2021 an analysis of Twitter showed more than 17,000 tweets which used variations of the phrase, “Hitler was right.” ADL has also seen an increase in on-the-ground activity that demonizes Israel and that has crossed at times into antisemitism. ADL’s Center on Extremism has documented dozens of anti-Israel protests in the U.S. since the violence in Israel began, and more are planned.
While the majority of protesters have stayed within the lines of free and civil discourse, ADL have seen some expressions of clear antisemitism at these events, including Signs that invoke the age-old anti-Semitic accusation that Jews are responsible for killing Jesus and Holocaust analogies that demonize Zionists. ADL has also received more reports of possible anti-Semitic incidents since the conflict broke out in Israel, with 193 reports in the week after the crisis began. For example; videos posted on Twitter appear to show at least one Jewish individual being beaten in Los Angeles, and Jews being intimidated on the street by individuals in cars carrying Palestinian flags.
Also a group of about twenty pro-Palestinian demonstrators chanted “Intifada!” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” across the street from the Temple Beth Israel synagogue in Skokie, Illinois. From California to New York, a wave of anti-Semitic attacks has broken out in communities over the last two weeks, leaving officials in law enforcement and government scrambling to confront the domestic ripple effects of the recent outbreak in violence between Israel and Hamas. It is the same story in Europe.
In recent years, Jews in many European countries have reported an increase in hate incidents and say they feel increasingly unsafe. Synagogues have been attacked. Jewish cemeteries desecrated. Jewish children bullied in school for their faith. What we are seeing today is reminiscent of what was occurring in Europe in the early 1930’s, especially in Germany. It was becoming clear that the Jewish population in Germany and in wider Europe were starting to experience sever persecution that was increasing in frequency and intensity. The Zionists travelled the length and breadth of Europe telling their fellow Jews to get out while they could and go back to Israel. Some left Europe but multitudes of Jewish people were well established in Germany and in other European countries.
They were doctors and lawyers and business people and many had served in the armed forces and felt that they would be safe because of the contribution to society they had made in their respective European countries and that especially in Germany. Many were citizens of the countries where they lived.
Once again we see this same pattern immerging, not just in Europe but in most if not all of the western democracies today. This of course is starting to become a situation of epidemic proportions. Multitudes of Jews especially the Liberal Jews are perfectly happy where they are living and many do not even consider it worth thinking about as far as returning to Israel. The signs of a rapidly rising flood-tide of Anti-Semitism have broken its banks and the deluge has started to sweep through the western democracies and it is now a global ‘blitz’ on those Jewish people living in these nations.
Now God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah these words; “For I will return them to their land that I gave to their forefathers. But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, even from the clefts of the rocks.” (Jeremiah 16:15b-16)
We must always keep in mind that understanding Bible prophecy from the Jewish perspective of interpretation is that it is not a prediction and fulfilment but a pattern of historical events, similar in character, which are partial fulfilments that all teach about an ultimate one. In the Bible we read that when Israel as a nation was away from the Lord He sent His prophets, the fishermen, to warn his people to turn back to Him and that in doing that they would find true security, blessing and true prosperity according to the Torah and prosper in the Land of Israel God has as their inheritance to be for them “an everlasting possession.” (Genesis 17:8) When judgement was coming the Lord always sent a warning before He sent judgement. This is the consistent prophetic pattern.
It was the same situation in Europe in the early 1930’s when God’s “fishermen” sought to fish for their Jewish brethren in Europe. If they had gone back to Israel then the Lord would have been able to bring them to Himself and to the Messiah our Lord Jesus, their Passover lamb sacrificed for their sins. However, they refused. Today there are clear signs that another Holocaust is looming, not only from the Islamic world but from the western nations. The Lord has an appointment for His people, the Israelites, as I prefer to call them, with their Messiah which He wants them to have in Israel. They must come home to Israel where they will be spiritually revived. This is the basis of Ezekiel Chapters 36-37.
Tragically, once again as in the early 1930’s, “the hunters” are coming and that sent by the Lord, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, even from the clefts of the rocks.” Israel is to face its darkest hour. It will be the time of Trouble for Jacob and we are told that even in Israel two thirds will perish in the land and that only a third will be saved as they pass through this time of Tribulation. (Zechariah 13: 8-9) Those who perish will be all those who have rejected the Messiah and the salvation He has provided for them as we see mentioned in the gospel of Luke. (Luke 1:58-75)
Having said this, the Lord will never destroy Israel as a nation because Jeremiah also tells us that even though Jacob (Israel) goes into this time of the Big Trouble they will be saved out of it. (Jeremiah 30:1-10) In that day a refined remnant will come forth who will come to faith in the Messiah. As Jeremiah writes; “‘It shall come about on that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from off their neck and will tear off their bonds; and strangers will no longer make them their slaves. But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. ‘Fear not, O Jacob My servant,’ declares the Lord, ‘And do not be dismayed, O Israel; For behold, I will save you from afar And your offspring from the land of their captivity. And Jacob will return and will be quiet and at ease, And no one will make him afraid.” (Jeremiah 30:8-10)
Today God is calling His people to make Aliyah and return to Israel where He will refine His people to make them “the praise in the earth” after the refining process has finished and the spiritual dross has been purged away (Isaiah 62:7)
As the prophet Malachi writes; “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap. And He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the LORD in righteousness. Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the LORD, as in days of old and years gone by.” (Malachi 3:2-4)
Anti-Semitism is on the rise and it is more widespread today within the nations than it was in the 1930’s primarily in Europe. God is permitting it and “the fisherman” today is born again, blood washed, Spirit-filled believers in the Messiah our Lord Jesus, both Jews and by extension believing Gentiles grafted into the Commonwealth of Israel, engaged in Jewish evangelism. Today many in Israel are being born again and filled with the Holy Spirit through faith in the Messiah our Lord Jesus. The fishermen are hard at work!
“The hunters” are those who hate the Jewish people, push the so called ‘Palestinian’ state, push for the two sate solution and support Israel’s implacable enemies entrenched in the surrounding nations. Tragically replacement theology within wider Christendom is making rapid strides and is a bedfellow of Anti-Semitism. In fact the time is coming when one of the major issues within wider Christendom will be a split over the existence of Israel as a nation.
Why then is the Lord bringing His people home through applied pressure? It is because He loves them. He remembers His blood covenant cut with Abraham and ratified in the blood of the Messiah our Lord Jesus, and because He wants them to have a reunion with their Messiah and older brother in the flesh, our Lord Jesus. A remnant will encounter Him as their Saviour, Lord, and Passover lamb. It will happen in Israel.
The prophet Zechariah tells us that God will pour out on the house of David (the nation of Israel) and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of unmerited and unearned favour producing in them a deep desire, with an eagerness and with a longing and humble attitude begging for a blessing as they gaze upon their Messiah. They will gaze upon Him whom was pierced for their sin and rebellion and mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child that has been lost, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son. On that day, we are told the weeping of repentant tears with unspeakable joy will be great in Jerusalem. (Zechariah 12:10)
Satan is going all out to destroy Israel because he knows that God’s prophetic purposes and the Second Coming of the Messiah our Lord Jesus the King of Israel are dependent on the survival of Israel. Hence Satan is the instigator of Anti-Semitism and more so today than at any other time in history because he knows that his time is short and the Lord Jesus is coming back! “The fishermen” are hard at work seeking to see as many Jews saved as possible before “The hunters come.”
Once the Lord has Israel where He wants them spiritually, their enemies will be destroyed and that big time! And so we read; “For I will return them to their land that I gave to their forefathers. But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, even from the clefts of the rocks.” (Jeremiah 16:15b-16)
