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D-Day for Israel ... Sam Gordon |
 A popular film, I am a Jerusalemite, was screened some time ago across the cinemas in the land of Israel. It tells the moving story of a young Israeli born in the city about 1948. He was asked to describe his feelings towards religion but, particularly, in relation to Judaism and Christianity.
Concerning the former, he said: ‘I am deeply impressed because many of the things prophesied in the Old Testament seem to be coming to pass.’ With regards to Christianity, he said: ‘It makes me very uneasy.’ And then, he said thoughtfully and slowly: ‘There is something just around the corner, I can feel it, but I don’t know what it is.’
I believe that Daniel 12 has the answer!
In verse 1a, we read: ‘At that time, Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then.’
The time factor here is the key to understanding the text. The opening phrase alludes back to chapter 11 and, specifically, to verses 40-45. It is the period that ushers in the terrors of the Tribulation.
Israel’s invasion by Egypt and Syria will trigger off a chain of events that will unleash great suffering on the Jewish people. After their intrusion, Antichrist will march his army through the land. He will be followed by Russia and her satellite states as they engage in conflict. Then, in retaliation, Antichrist will sever his covenant with Israel and begin a concerted campaign of persecution against them. His benevolence will turn to malevolence as overnight he drives nail after nail into the Israeli coffin.
That is why Michael stands up to guard the tiny nation!
All hell is let loose as Satan is on the warpath. The Jewish people will find themselves in a furnace of affliction. The awfulness of such a season is seen in that it is unprecedented and unparalleled in the history of mankind.
The indescribable horrors of the Nazi Holocaust will pale into insignificance in the cold light of what awaits the nation of Israel. It is an hour of severe trial and deepening crisis. Days of absolute despair when their hands are raised in futile surrender. The darkness will blacken as the nation is driven into a corner. There seems to be no way of escape. All will seem lost. The instinct for survival will slowly evaporate. The struggle to exist, so characteristic over many decades, will virtually flicker as the wind of adversity and oppression blows.
The mood swings in verses 1b-2 where we read: ‘But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.’
Almost with the same breath he provides hope! What a staggering and sensational promise. It is a divine undertaking.
When the threat of extermination was looming larger by the hour, the prophet now draws their attention to the prospect of emancipation. Liberation! Freedom! Yes, just when they needed Him most, He was there ...
God works in mysterious ways. Israel’s dire straits are designed by God to prepare her for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. In the closing days of the Tribulation, many surviving Jews will apparently search the Scriptures seeking a reason for their bitter trials. They primarily want to ascertain the reason why it happened to them. They can’t fathom why they were singled out for such excruciating pain and sorrow (cf. Daniel 12:4).
They will discover it is because they rejected Jesus. They will pour out from their hearts a solemn confession based on Isaiah 53. The details are all mapped out in the closing verses of Zechariah 12.
It depicts Him bringing salvation, redemption and deliverance. It is both physical and spiritual. The ones released from bondage are those whose names are penned in the book. They are the remnant who acknowledge Jesus as Messiah and Saviour. In May 1948 a nation was born politically in a day; in a soon-coming day, the nation will be reborn spiritually.
They will, presumably, comprise the 144,000 ‘sealed’ in Revelation 7, the ‘elect’ of Matthew 24:22, and the ‘saved’ of Romans 11:26.
Daniel also gives a word of glorious reassurance and comfort to the Jews who will die as martyrs during the Tribulation for their faith in Jehovah—they will awake to everlasting life. For those who die without God, their fate is well documented in that they will waken to shame and everlasting contempt. There is a clear line of demarcation and division. There is no hint of a general resurrection!
In actual fact, in Revelation 20:5 where it speaks of the ‘first resurrection’, it must be remembered it is one event in three stages. The initial stage is a reference to Christ as the ‘firstfruits of them that slept’ (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:23a). The second phase is the rapture of the Church as in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 when Paul says, ‘afterward, they that are Christ’s’ (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:23b). The third level is the resurrection of Tribulation saints together with the Old Testament saints at His second advent who will then be invited to share in the millennial reign of King Jesus (cf. Isaiah 26:19).
The lesson is: it may be tough today, and it may be worse tomorrow, but keep your eye on the big picture! On that distant horizon, there is hope ... and our hope is in the Lord!
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