Introduction:
722 BC
In 722 BC the Northern Kingdom of Israel (the Ten Tribes) was invaded by the Assyrians who captured the capital city of Samaria. The invasion resulted in terrible violence and loss of life. The exact number of Jews killed during the invasion is not specified in historical records. Biblical accounts indicate that many civilians were killed, including: infants and pregnant women. After the conquest it was estimated that approximately 27,290 captives were taken from Samaria to Assyria.
The Assyrian strategy when conquering any other nation involved mass deportations, which aimed to dismantle the national and cultural identities of the Israelites. The invasion was marked by brutality, and while specific death tolls are unclear, the impact on the Jews in the Northern kingdom was devastating.
Why did God judge the people of the Northern Kingdom?
They were worshipping false gods which was rampant, not only among the civilians but also by the kings of Israel who were into idolatry big time. The Israelites often turned to the deities of surrounding nations, abandoning the worship of God.
There was widespread moral corruption and decay including injustices and unethical behaviour among the people and leaders of Israel. There was spiritual and moral depravity and the people continuously violated their covenant with the LORD. They mingled their worship of God with their worship of the pagan deities. They repeatedly broke the covenant established with God, failing to follow His laws and commands.
Time and time again the LORD sent prophets to warn His people, but they ignored these warnings, leading to divine retribution and exile for most of the surviving Jews. A few remained in the Holy Land and the ten tribes were never lost but over time dispersed into the nations. The Samaritans living in Israel in the time of the Messiah our Lord Jesus were half Jewish and half Assyrian due to mixed marriages between Jews with Assyrians
586 BC
In 586 BC the Southern Kingdom of Judah (the two tribes) was invaded by the Babylonians who captured the capital city of Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple. After multitudes of the Jewish people were killed it is estimated that around 4,200 people were taken into captivity by the Babylonians and exiled to Babylon. However, some Jews remained in the Land of Israel after the Babylonian exile.
The sins of the people of Jerusalem were many but they were summarized in two ways as God declared, “My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13). The people had turned their back on the one true God and sought their satisfaction somewhere else. Though they still performed many religious ceremonies, their hearts were far from the LORD and their actions contradicted His law.
The Chief priests and the people, violated God’s commandments, mocked His messengers, despised His Word and persecuted His prophets, and continued to do this until the axe was laid to the root and the tree of the Southern Kingdom fell at the hands of the Babylonians by the judgement of God.
God in His compassion gave both the northern and southern kingdoms time to repent but in the end they continued in their rebellion and sins and reaped the consequences of their rejection of His Word. The siege of Jerusalem was viciously unrelenting.
Before the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions of the Holy Land Child sacrifices were committed in both the northern and southern kingdoms of the land of Israel on the altars of pagan deities. The most notable location associated with child sacrifice was Tophet, which was situated in the Valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem.
In the Old Testament this site is frequently mentioned in the context of these abhorrent satanic rituals (Jeremiah 7:30-31) (Deuteronomy 12:30 -31) (2 Kings 23:10). This practice was met with strong condemnation from the prophets, reflecting the ungodly moral and ethical standards of the Israelite community. Today we have child sacrifices on the altars of abortion clinics in Israel.
All idolatry in every form is the worship of demons and scripture testifies to this fact and those offering up their children on these pagan altars were in fact engaging with demons (Deuteronomy 32:16-17) (Psalm 106:36-37) (1 Corinthians 10:20).
70 AD
In 70AD the Armies of Rome ransacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple ending the practice of Biblical Mosaic Judaism. It was the decisive event of the First Jewish Revolt against the Roman Empire. Roman forces led by Titus besieged the city of Jerusalem, the revolt’s main stronghold. After months of fighting, the Roman armies breached the defences, destroyed the Second Temple, and razed the city, killing, enslaving, or displacing much of its population.
The city’s fall marked the effective end of the revolt and had far-reaching political, religious, and cultural consequences. Because Israel by and large had rejected the Messiah and God’s provision of salvation through Him for the Jewish nation, the judgement of God fell upon them in 70AD because they had called down a curse on themselves and their children during the trial of the Messiah our Lord Jesus.
The remnant of New Covenant believers who had believed in the Messiah our Lord Jesus escaped during a lull in the siege and they were supernaturally led by God through the lines of the Romans to safety. Once they had left the city and on their way to safety the siege was renewed.
The Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD resulted in catastrophic loss of life among the Jewish population. Approximately 1.1 million Jews were killed during the siege according to the historian Josephus. Many others were taken as slaves and many undoubtedly found themselves in exile through being brought and sold as slaves in the market places to people from other nations.
132-136 AD
The Bar Kokhba Revolt was a significant Jewish uprising against Roman rule in Judea, occurring from 132 to 136 AD. It was led by Simon Bar Kokhba, who was believed by many to be the Messiah. The revolt aimed to establish an independent Jewish state but ultimately ended in defeat. The revolt was fuelled by resentment towards Roman rule, particularly after the destruction of Jerusalem during the First Jewish Revolt (66-70 AD). Emperor Hadrian’s decision to rebuild Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina and impose restrictions on Jewish religious practices, including a ban on circumcision, intensified Jewish discontent.
The revolt began in 132 AD, with Bar Kokhba leading a large-scale rebellion that captured numerous villages and fortified strongholds. The Roman Empire, under General Sextus Julius Severus, responded with overwhelming force, systematically destroying towns and villages.
The revolt’s turning point came in 135 AD with the fall of the fortified stronghold of Betar, leading to Bar Kokhba’s death. After the revolt had finished it has been estimated that there were 580,000 Jewish deaths, and the near-total depopulation of Judea. This time the exile of the surviving Jews was extensive to say the least.
After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, the Romans renamed the region as Judea. This name was used for the Roman province that encompassed much of the territory previously known as the Kingdom of Judah. Following the Bar Kokhba revolt (132-136 AD), the Romans further renamed the province to Syria Palaestina.
This change was seen as a punitive measure aimed at diminishing Jewish identification with the land. This was the source of the name Palestine, a derivation of the name Philistine, from the Philistines who were Israel’s’ ancient enemies. The name stuck after that. However, God, the Lord Jesus and the Old and the New Testament all call the Holy Land Israel, the name God gave to the Jews through the patriarch Jacob (Genesis 32:28). Those who argue this point argue with God Himself!
In this psalm we have an account of the exiles living in Babylon after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Contextually it is about Israel’s exile in Babylon after 586BC, however, prophetically can also apply to a future exile that is coming for the people of Jerusalem which will see half of the Jewish population in Jerusalem exiled to Muslim countries, but the other half remaining in the city (Zechariah 14:1-2).
This time it will not be an exile to literal Babylon but an exile sanctioned by the modern day ‘Babylonians’ the empire of Islam after their armies conquer Jerusalem. The roots of Islamic religion and ideology of the sword have its roots going all the way back to the Ancient Babylon of Nimrod in the Book of Genesis, the first major type of the future Antichrist who, like Nimrod, will be a Middle-Eastern potentate and an arch rebel in the face of God!
Having said this, God will use this final exile in the future to bring His people back to Himself through a revelation of the Messiah to the Jews still living in Israel that were not exiled. When He returns to the Mount of Olives in His Second Coming He will rescue the nation of Israel, deal with their enemies and inaugurate His Messianic Millennial reign on earth. After this happens God will bring His people back to the Land of Israel from those Islamic countries to which they were exiled. There are many scriptures foretelling this great end-time Aliyah (Zechariah 14: 3-3-12) (Ezekiel 36:24-38) (Isaiah 43:1-7), and many other passages of scripture as well.
The authorship of Psalm 137 is unknown, but it is traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah by some rabbinical sources. This psalm then reflects the experiences of the Jewish people during their Babylonian exile. With these things in view let’s now look at this Psalm.
Psalm 137: Exposition
(Vs.1) “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.”
When God’s people turn away from Him and refuse the warnings of those messengers He sends to them to turn His people back to Himself He sends judgement, not to destroy them, but to chastise them in order to bring about repentance and spiritual renewal in order to bring them His blessings and to restore their personal relationship with Him.
When you read the Book of Judges and the writings of the prophets, the LORD had to use foreign armies to bring His people back to a place where they, in desperation, cried out to Him for deliverance. This is happening today in Israel as we see the nations once again starting to gang up on Israel. God is orchestrating everything where Israel and the nations are concerned. He will gather all the nations to Jerusalem and deal with them there after they have served His purposes for Israel (Zechariah 14:1-5) (Joel 3:1-3).
However, especially in the Book of Judges, after being rescued by individual Judges (deliverers) God raised up, when the judge died God’s people quickly turned once again to the ways of their pagan neighbours, who as a result attacked Israel and ruled over them in some cases for many years until in their desperation the Israelites cried out to God and He sent them another deliverer.
During their captivity to their enemies they had time to consider what they had before they spiritually backslid and suffered the consequences of their rebellion. They discovered a longing in their hearts to be under the rule of the LORD which was better by far rather than being subjected under the heel of their enemies.
Here in this psalm we have described the sorrow and regret of an exile in Babylon reflecting on how good things were in spiritual and temporal matters under the rule of the LORD in Jerusalem. Time in exile gave His people time to reflect on why they were in the exile. This was the only way God could bring about regret over past ungodly ways leading to repentance and spiritual renewal. If this psalm was written by Jeremiah he knew full well the breadth and depth of the whole Babylonian captivity and what had brought it about.
Sometimes in the spiritual life when we turn away from the LORD through disobedience to His Word and embrace idols in our lives, He will arrange circumstances in such a way that will allow us to reflect on our backslidings, and allow this to go on until we realise that it is much better to live for, and to serve the LORD, than to serve the things this world has to offer and its overlord Satan.
None of us can sit on the fence where serving in the kingdom of God while at the same time serving the world, they are mutually exclusive (1 John 2:15-16). The LORD will electrify the fence and we will be forced to jump one way or the other. In spiritual matters there is no grey area or neutral ground. As the Messiah our Lord Jesus Himself said; “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters” (Matthew 12:30).
May the LORD grant us all who serve Him in these last days when He electrifies the fence the power to jump over into the path of that good, acceptable and perfect will He has chosen for us to walk down (Romans 12:1-2). The alternate path may be like waltzing merrily down the yellow brick road; however, at the end of it those who have chosen this path will meet someone far more sinister and deadly than the Wizard of Oz!
All of us who have been spiritually reborn from above by the blessed Holy Spirit have to constantly battle with this war on the inside of us between the desires of the Spirit wrestling with the desires of our fallen fleshly nature. As the Second Coming of the Messiah our Lord Jesus approaches Satan is pulling out all the stops to highjack us spiritually.
It is true in spiritual matters that we have two natures. One is the new nature we receive when we are born again and become indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the other nature is our old sinful nature which we have in us from conception in our mother’s womb, and the nature we feed the most is the one that will untimely control us (Psalm 51:5) (Romans 8:12-14).
Most of us if we are honest, all have seasons where God seems not to be moving in our lives and it can be because He wants to deal with us and bring us to the point where we want His will more than any other thing or anyone else in this world. This was the pattern of all of the saints in both Testaments.
Sometimes God is dealing with hidden and unconfessed sin which He wants to expose and have dealt with by the blood, by the Word and by the Spirit of the Messiah our Lord Jesus. Sometimes it may be idols that become rivals for our affections leading us to distance ourselves from fellowship with Him. Only by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit can we turn away from everything that defiles our minds our emotions and especially the actions of our will.
If we are willing to lay these idols down as an action of our will and give them to the Lord Jesus to deal with, He will empower us to be overcomers. We cannot do this by human will power but if we ask the Lord to change our affections to love what He loves and to hate what He hates, and to do in us what we cannot do ourselves He will respond! When we do this by faith He is well pleased and will reward us with what we have desired, because it is in line with His will revealed in His Word the Bible (Hebrews 11:6) (1 John 5:14-15).
As the author of Hebrews writes; “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of faith. For the joy set before him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:1-3). Let’s move on…
(Vs.2-4) “There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion! How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?”
Clearly those taunting the exiles knew that they once sang songs of praise to God but were now in His disfavour. How could they sing His praises in their exile? They had hung up their harps on the poplar trees as it were. Whether they had brought harps with them or had fashioned them in captivity they could not play them. They had lost the song of Zion.
There was a time when undoubtedly the pagan nations knew that the God of Israel was the One God that was supreme over all the other ‘gods’ (demons). What He had done through the Israelites since they came out of Egypt was well known from their own historical records even if they were distorted records according to their traditions.
The Babylonians tormented the Jewish exiles implying that their God had failed to deliver them and were mocking them by asking them to sing their songs about Him. The Babylonians were tormentors. In the Bible tormenters are the demon minions of hell (Matthew 18:34). These pagan nations were steeped in the occult.
As God’s people we must always be aware of our witness when living and working among the unsaved. They may laugh and even mock us but many are also watching how we react. For many unsaved we are living among every day we are the only Bible they will be reading!
When we spiritually backslide or find ourselves in a situation of our own doing that has caused us to compromise our commitment to the LORD, the last thing we feel like doing is singing the songs of Zion. We are in a foreign land spiritually speaking that is not the proper place for any born again child of God to dwell in. While we are in this world we are not of this world or enslaved to the ways of this fallen world. However, when we spiritually backslide we lose our song! Only after a time of reflection and godly sorrow that leads to repentance will we be able to once again sing the songs of Zion! See also (Psalm 32) Let’s continue…
(Vs.5-6) “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.”
Jerusalem was the main focal point for the Jewish people wherever they were. There they had the Temple of Solomon in which the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob dwelt among His people. It was the city where God had placed the priority for receiving worship from His redeemed people (Deuteronomy 12:4-14). Even if a Jew was living in another country when they prayed they always faced Jerusalem (Daniel 6:10). In their Babylonian exile the Jewish captives yearned for Jerusalem and the yearning was impacted by a deep depression and sense of abandonment by God due to the destruction of the Temple itself by the Babylonians.
The exiled Jews only started to really appreciate what they had experienced in times past when God was among them in the Temple at Jerusalem, when they no longer had their former state before the captivity. Their highest joy in Jerusalem had been diluted by their sin and rebellion and only when they no longer were in Jerusalem did they really consider how vital Jerusalem and the Temple were to their spiritual and temporal well-being.
In our walk with the LORD there will be seasons where due to disobedience or being seduced by the things this world offers, we lose our sense of God’s abiding presence. At such times when we realise our backslidden state we start to realise afresh that walking with God is far better than walking in the ways of this world. If we are indwelt by the blessed Holy Spirit He will produce in is a godly sorrow that will lead to repentance. As Rabbi the Apostle Paul writes; “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death” (2 Corinthians 7:10).
It is only when we have been deprived of spiritual blessings do we come to appreciate what we had experienced when we walked moment by moment in step with the Holy Spirit of God. In passing it also needs to be said that in our walk with the LORD there will be seasons of heaviness due to manifold temptations, trials and tests of all kinds including depression to a lesser or greater degree which Satan will take advantage of as the accuser of the brethren, who accuses them day and night before our God (Revelation 12:10). See also; (Job 1:8-11) (Zechariah 3:1-2) (Romans 8:3).
God’s plan for our lives is righteousness, joy and peace through the indwelling Holy Spirit, something this world cannot give! As Rabbi the Apostle Paul writes; “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17) See also; (John 14: 27). Let’s continue;
(Vs.7) “Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Tear it down,” they cried, tear it down to its foundations!”
The Edomites were the descendants of Esau, the firstborn son of Isaac and the twin brother of Jacob. In the womb, Esau (the Patriarch of the Arab nations) and Jacob (the Patriarch of the Jews) struggled together, and God told their mother Rebekah, that they would become two nations, with the older one serving the younger (Genesis 25:23). In scripture we are told that the Edomites were always at odds with the Jews, a conflict that was birthed in Rebekah’s womb. Today the Edomites would be the Arab nations which by and large are still antagonistic towards the Jewish people and towards the existence of the nation Israel.
When the Babylonians were laying siege to Jerusalem the Arab nations at that time were crying out for the annihilation of Israel, a hate spawned by Esau! The psalmist remembering what they did, cries out to the LORD to remember what the Edomites did.
In the Torah because they were close relatives, the Israelites were forbidden to hate the Edomites (Deuteronomy 23:7). However, the Edomites regularly attacked Israel, and many wars were fought as a result. Some will say that we are to pray for our enemies and that we are to do regardless of what they may do to us. However, we need to also keep in balance that in the Book of Revelation the souls of those martyred for their faith in Messiah under God’s altar cry out to the LORD to avenge their blood (Revelation 6:9-11).
God loves and He hates. His love and hatred are perfectly justified. When we see God saying that He loved Jacob but hated Esau, He was referring to the fact that He did not hate Esau as a person, but hated his attitude towards God’s blessing and because he despised his birth right. Whereas, God recognising Jacob’s difficult character loved Him because his attitude was right before God, and because he desired the birthright above everything else.
Even though Jacob acquired it through deception, God in His foreknowledge saw that in time Jacob would come to love Him and to put his faith in Him. Esau on the other hand had no such attitude but was a man given over to the control of his sinful and fleshly appetites. In despising His birth right Esau exhibited a distain and rejection of the LORD and would pass on down to his decedents the Arab nations his hatred of the Jews, a hate ingrained in the Arab nations today. Now let’s read on…
(Vs.8-9) “O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us, he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.”
Here the psalmist designates the Edomites as a daughter of Babylon and destined to be destroyed in the same way the Babylonians destroyed the men, the women and the children in Jerusalem. What the Babylonians did accompanied by the Edomites, would come back upon their own heads.
This alliance with the Babylonians was the most notable instance of Edomite hostility towards Judah that occurred during the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in the early 6th century BC. The Edomites are accused of aiding the Babylonians in their attack on Jerusalem, an act that is condemned in several biblical passages.
The prophet Obadiah specifically addressed this betrayal, highlighting Edom’s role in the downfall of Jerusalem. The prophet Obadiah states, “On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were just like one of them” (Obadiah 1:11).
The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel also speak against Edom for their betrayal of the Jews and pronounce judgment upon Edom for their actions. (Jeremiah 49:7-22) (Ezekiel 25:12-14) As Ezekiel the prophet declares; declares, “This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because Edom acted vengefully against the house of Judah and incurred grievous guilt by taking revenge on them, therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will stretch out My hand against Edom and cut off man and beast from it” (Ezekiel 25:12-13).
Prophetically speaking, this is also telescoping to the very end of this present age when God will severely judge and destroy Islam from the face of the earth when the Messiah returns to fight for Israel (Isaiah 34:5-17) (Zechariah 14:3-5, 12-14). We are told that Judah will also fight at Jerusalem under their Commander in Chief the Messiah our Lord Jesus (vs.14).
When the Armies of Islam accompanied by the armies of non-Islamic nations invade Israel and occupy Jerusalem, the Arab kingdoms of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates., and other trading nations from Europe will just be observers and not join in the invasion, however, even though they do not join the invasion force, they will not escape God’s judgement (Ezekiel 38:13-23; 39:1-8).
Epilogue:
Today Israel by and large is a secular nation and away from the God of their forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and aliens and strangers to their own covenants of promise, especially they are estranged from the Messiah and God’s salvation found only in Him alone (John 14:6) (Acts 4:12) (1 Corinthians 5:7). There is also a lot of religious activity by the religious Orthodox Jews that for the most part persecute and curse those who believe and testify that the Lord Jesus is the Messiah of Israel, and Israel’s only Lord, Saviour and Passover Lamb. While many Jews in Israel are being saved the majority of Israelis are secular even though they have religious ancestors and traditions.
As of 2026, Israel has an abortion rate of approximately 9 per 1,000 women of childbearing age, with around 20,000 abortions performed annually. The majority of abortion requests are approved by a termination committee, and the process remains accessible. Social attitudes towards abortion in Israel are mixed; while abortion is largely permitted and accessible, it remains a sensitive topic.
Many view the existing laws as either too restrictive or too lenient, reflecting a broader debate about reproductive rights in a society that is becoming increasingly traditional and conservative in some ways but not aware of the Biblical ramifications of killing those little ones who cannot speak for themselves. Clearly the altars of the abortion clinics in Israel are the same as the historical altars of Molech upon which little babies were burnt alive as they were sacrificed to demons. This was one of the major sins that brought down God’s judgement on His covenant people.
As for the carnality of secular Israelis you also have the celebration of all types of sodomy. Tel Aviv Pride is among the biggest annual pride events in the world and as of 2019, it is becoming the biggest in Asia. Tourists travel from all over the world to attend pride events in Tel Aviv each summer. And the city itself is, in the larger context of Israeli society, extremely LGBTQ+ friendly.
Tel Aviv, known for being the most gay-friendly city in the Jewish state, came out on top in Aguda’s 2022 annual rankings, released every June on the occasion of Pride Month. Last year approximately 60,000 participants attended the Tel Aviv Pride Parade on June 13, 2025, along with tens of thousands of additional family members and young people. Tel Aviv has been publically referred to as the gay capital of the world.
As for the religious activity the Judaism practiced in Israel today is not the Biblical Judaism of Moses and the Torah. There is no Temple, no high priest or acceptable sacrificial animals. Even if they do rebuild a temple and commence sacrifices and offerings for sin these will not be acceptable to God because the sacrifice once and for all time was made by the pure untainted blood of the Messiah our Lord Jesus, Israel’s Passover Lamb.
The unsaved religious orthodox Jews are labouring under a works based righteousness, a righteousness before God not obtained by trying to keep the law which no one can keep anyway. God’s gift of righteousness can only be granted by God on the basis of a saving faith in the Messiah our Lord Jesus and in His atoning redeeming blood, because by works of the law no one will be justified in God’s sight (Romans 3:19-31).
Any sacrifices offered for sin are not acceptable to God. By reinstituting any sacrificial system directly rejects the atoning work of the Messiah at the cross. While in Israel today there are Messianic fellowships preaching the gospel of the kingdom and an increasing number of Jews being saved, by and large, Israel as a nation are secular and ungodly by the standards of God’s Word and God is using their enemies to bring His people back to Himself and to the Messiah our Lord Jesus.
When the end-time invasion comes and the partial exile happens again those Jews remaining in Jerusalem and those Jews exiled to Islamic nations will come to the point where they, like their ancestors in Babylon, will sit and weep, and many will remember the salvation that they had preached to them but chose to ignore. The songs of Zion will no longer be heard at all in the streets of Jerusalem.
The true purpose of Jerusalem will come back to the exiles as many will have been taught the Torah from infancy by the Rabbis in Israel’s educational institutions. In their extremity they will long to be once again in Jerusalem but with a different perspective on life which they would never have if they had remained in the city before the invasion. In light of God’s eternal purpose for Israel Jerusalem will be considered their highest joy.
Today God is bringing the nations against Israel as He has always done when they have spiritually backslidden and ignored His messengers to turn them back to Himself. This time will be no exception. The sins that marked the Northern and Southern kingdoms of the Holy land in Old Testament times are once again by and large prevalent in Israel today.
Having said this, God has never abandoned His covenant people as multitudes are saying today in the replacement theology camp within wider Christendom. The people of Israel as yet are to pass through the Time of Trouble for Jacob where the nation will be centre stage in world affairs (Jeremiah 30:1-10) (Daniel 12:1-4). When this happens the whole world will be plunged into a nightmare unimaginable, a time of tribulation unequalled in past history and never to be equalled again in the future (Matthew 24:15:15-31).
During this time lasting three and a half years God will be primarily dealing with Israel. The prophet Zechariah spoke about this time when Israel will be spiritually refined and sifted like wheat by the LORD, and, that at the end of this time, Israel will be spiritually and nationally restored to co-reign with the Messiah having been reconciled to Him.
The prophet Zechariah writes; “In the whole land, declares the LORD, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive. And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon My Name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are My people’; and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God’” (Zechariah 13:8-9).
The prophet Jeremiah writes; “Alas! That day is so great there is none like it; it is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be saved out of it.” And it shall come to pass in that day, declares the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and I will burst your bonds, and foreigners shall no more make a slave of him. But they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. “Then fear not, O Jacob My servant, declares the LORD, nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid (Jeremiah 30:7-10).
In that day in Israel and especially in Jerusalem His people will weep with unbridled joy, their harps and every other instrument will resound throughout the city and into the whole land, a celebration that will resound around the world that the Messiah, our Lord Jesus has returned as He promised He would to His people Israel (Zechariah 12:10-13:1).
No longer will the taunts of the unsaved and ungodly be heard. Instead, the songs of Zion will be sung in Israel and across the nations of the world. No longer will the people of Israel be denied their skills but excel in every endeavour on earth. No longer will their tongues cleave to the roof of their mouths as they will have been loosed to praise the one who by His atoning blood has redeemed Israel from all of her sins, and from the hands of their enemies, and from all who have hated them.
Dwelling in Jerusalem under their King Messiah will be their highest joy. In that day under the reign of the Messiah even the surviving remnant of Esau will be reunited with the surviving decedents of Jacob. For the nations of the whole world in that day Eden will be restored! The regeneration of all things will have commenced (Isaiah 65:47-25). Selah.
