I feel compelled to respond to a published paper in the internet by Pastor G. Reckart, in the following link http://jesus-messiah.com/prophecy/jacobs-trouble.html In this paper Pastor Reckart has addressed the issue of the “TIME OF JACOB’s TROUBLE”. In his paper Pastor Reckart has done two things; first he has labeled certain individuals who have interpreted Jeremiah’s prophecy of Jeremiah 30:7 as false prophets. Secondly he has associated time of Jacob’s trouble with Babylonian captivity.
It is important that all of us understand this prophecy to avoid error. We should seek to understand who Jacob is in the scriptures. Jacob is the entire nation of Israel as referred in Numbers 23:23 “For there is no sorcery against Jacob,”.
Nation of Israel had been split into two kingdoms in 926 BC. The southern kingdom was called Judah and the northern kingdom was called Israel. The northern kingdom of Israel was invaded by Assyria in the year 722 BC, and the inhabitants went into Assyrian captivity. Later on the kingdom of Judah was invaded by the Babylonian empire. In 597 BC Jerusalem was destroyed and most of the inhabitants went into Babylonian captivity.
Cyrus King of Persia made a decree in the year 536 BC that Jews return to the land of Judah and rebuild the temple of the LORD. The people from the kingdom of Israel that were in exile never returned from Assyria to the land of Israel. They were assimilated into other nations and lost their identity.
Up to here we can conclude that ‘THETIME OF JACOB’S TROUBLE DOES NOT REFER TO BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY.
My above conclusion is supported by verse three of Jeremiah thirty “for behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,’ says the LORD. ‘And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.”
I am fully persuaded to believe that TIME OF JACOB’S TROUBLE IS STIL FUTURE.
We could have thought that the events of AD 70 relate to this time but we would be wrong. What about the holocaust?
In the Olivet discourse, Jesus referred to the great tribulation and the same time is confirmed in the book of Revelation. The great tribulation which is in the future is the TIME OF JACOBS TOUBLE.