What is Jacob’s Trouble from a Hebraic perspective?

I hear many Christian Bible prophecy teachers talk about Jacob’s Trouble and tie it into their eschatological speculations about the pre-trib rapture, Daniel’s 70th week and on and on. Most of them seem to simply be regurgitating what others before them, who are ignorant of the Torah and who really don’t know much about the Tanakh have said. They don’t even know who the descendants of Jacob are in end times Bible prophecy. So how can they even hope to come to an understanding of this subject? It’s the blind leading the blind!

A few years ago, I did an in depth study on the subject of Jacob’s Trouble. I went into the study with no preconceived ideas except only to let the Bible speak for itself. The following is what was revealed to me. — Natan

Genesis 32:1–32, Jacob’s trouble explained.

Jacob’s Trouble, His Dark Night of the Soul and End Times Prophecy

Genesis 32 is the story of Jacob’s return to Canaan after having been exiled from his homeland for 20 years. His exile occurred after he obtained his divinely promised birthright through shrewd if not unscrupulous means from his brother Esau resulting in his having to flee Canaan for fear of his life due to Esau’s vengeance. Jacob found refuge in the region of Babylonia at his Uncle Laban’s home where he married Laban’s two daughters, Leah and Rachel. Eventually, Jacob had to flee Babylon with Laban in angry pursuit. As Jacob and his family are returning to Canann, they encounter Jacob’s brother Esau who, along with his small army, physically stood in Jacob’s way from entering the land of his promised inheritance and wanted to kill Jacob. 

This account is not only the story of Jacob’s personal, spiritual struggles, but it also has end times prophetic implications relating to the regathering out of exile of the twelve tribes of Israel (the Jews and the Christians) and their return to their Promised Land in Israel under Yeshua their Messiah at his second coming. The Scriptures refer to this as Jacob’s Trouble (see Jer 30:7).

The Jewish sages believe that the encounter between Jacob and Esau (no doubt informed by Jeremiah’s prophecy) is prophetic in nature and will happen again in the end times, but this time on a much larger scale and this time involving the numerous descendants of Israel and Esau. The end-times Israelites will be attempting to return to their ancestral homeland, while the descendants of Esau will be blocking their way. As we proceed in this study, we will see whether this prophecy is beginning to come to pass in these last days.

Not only this, the Jewish sages speak of two major redemptions in Israel’s long history. The first redemption occurred when YHVH delivered the oppressed and enslaved children of Israel out of Egypt at the exodus. The second or final redemption will occur at the end of this present era when the Messiah will regather and lead his exiled and scattered Israelite people back to the Promised Land in fulfillment of numerous biblical prophecies. 

Rolling the film backwards a little in the present story of Jacob, Laban had chased Jacob out of the area of Babylon, and yet Jacob was being blocked from entering Canaan by his murderous brother Esau (or Edom meaning “red”). This is reminiscent of Pharaoh chasing the Israelites out of Egypt only to find themselves blocked by the Red Sea, which is a prophetic picture of Edom. In both instances, YHVH’s people were forced to rely totally on him for deliverance from their enemies who were in front of and behind them.

Initially, Jacob deals with the crisis in a typically human way—by scheming and conniving instead of having faith in YHVH to work things out. He figured that by bribing angry and bloodthirsty Esau with wave after wave of gifts, he might appease Esau and assuage his brother’s desire for revenge (Gen 32:13–20).

Yet Jacob’s dual response to his present danger by resorting to both appeasement and prayer was not acceptable to YHVH who wanted Jacob to be a man of unmitigated faith—to solely trust in him. To bring Jacob to this point, a part of Jacob had to die. His prideful self-reliance to extricate himself from difficult situations had to die. This tendency was based on fear of death, and not on faith in YHVH. For Jacob to mature spiritually, YHVH wanted Jacob to leave his aspect of his human nature on the east side of the Jordan where Babylon (a spiritual metaphor for the old spiritual man and the ungodly ways of this world) was located. In its place, a spiritually-oriented man who would totally trust YHVH in all things had to rise up; Jacob could no longer trust in his soul man (i.e. his mind, will and emotions) to dictate his actions; he had to rely on the Spirit of Elohim to lead him through his personal spirit. Only a man of faith who was might in the Spirit would be worthy to enter the Promised Land. As Jacob had to discover, the old soul-reliant man, however, would not die without a fight as we are about to see.

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The Book of Revelation: Can We Understand End Times Bible Prophecy Before It Happens?

We all have our hunches about how Bible prophecy along with the book of Revelation will play out, but we’re all wrong. Some of us may have parts and pieces of the truth, but most Bible prophecy will not be fully understood until after it happens. 

For the most part, those prophecy pundits and Bible students who formulate timelines, charts and write commentaries on the book of Revelation and other end time Bible prophecies in an attempt to explain the exact meaning of the metaphorical symbols and to predict how these prophecies will be fulfilled, by whom and when are engaging in folly. No one knows these things exactly, and know will know, again, in most cases, until after they have come to pass, and even then, most people will not even understand the prophecies at that time.

Here is a case in point: Even Yeshua’s disciples didn’t understand what his role was to be or how he was to fulfill the many Old Testament Messianic prophecies about him until after his resurrection. Do we really think that our biblical understanding and spiritual perspicacity is greater than theirs? If so, than this is not only folly on our part, but extreme arrogance and hubris! Perhaps we need to explore the biblical meaning of humility and faith. Let me explain what I mean.

Regarding faith, if we were to know the exact details concerning the fulfillment of biblical prophecy including the book Revelation, then our spiritual walk would no longer be a faith walk as per the biblical definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1, would it?

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

We’d now be walking by sight, not by faith, which is the opposite of what Scripture enjoins us to do (2 Cor 5:7).

No, the main purpose of Bible prophecy isn’t to provide us with a sort of crystal ball to know what’s going to happen in the future. It’s purpose is only to raise our hope by providing us with a shadowy understanding of future events, like looking through a glass darkly (1 Cor 13:12), even as the ancient Jews had a shadowy understanding about the coming of Messiah, but they didn’t know the full or exact details of how biblical prophecies concerning him would play out. The exact fulfillment of those prophecies was hidden from the majority of Jews, which is why they killed him. YHVH divinely revealed only to a few of Yeshua’s closest associates how he perfectly fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies concerning him.

Now this brings us to the main purpose of Bible prophecy, as I see it. It’s not so that humans can use the Bible as a sort of crystal ball or as a means to divine or augur the exact details of the future, but so that after the prophecies have been fulfilled, and the understanding of them is divinely revealed to YHVH’s faithful saints (as occurred to Yeshua’s disciples after his resurrection) that the omniscience and glory of YHVH Elohim will be manifested causing humans to glorify, praise and worship him. Please not: Even an understanding of the fulfillment of the prophecies is by divine revelation and will not be understood by the vast majority of people. For example, what majority of the Jewish population understood that Yeshua the Messiah was who he was in his day…or even today? 

What, therefore, should be the main focus of our spiritual walk as Bible believers? Namely this: We need to pursue holiness and righteousness through a spiritual relationship with Yeshua as we love him by obeying his Word. Our future is in his hands, and the just shall walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 5:7; Heb 11:1). In his hands, we are safe and secure no matter how the prophecies of the Bible play out.

What is the bottom line here? Keep your eyes on Yeshua and have faith in him, and not on how you think Bible prophecy is going to play out, because no one knows these things. Make no mistake about it, the vast majority of those people who “understand” Bible prophecy are those who have something to sell you; they want to make a name for themselves for the purpose of human pride, control and mammon. Beware!

 

Can We Ever Fully Understand End-Time Bible Prophecy?

A couple of days ago, someone emailed me a commentary on the book of Revelation and asked me to review it. I began reading it, and realized that it was nothing more than one man’s speculations about what he thought that this enigmatic book means. 
That same day I went to the post office to get my mail, and I picked up a cardboard tube sent to me by an admiring follower of our ministry. Inside the tube was a kind and complimentary letter along with a paper chart when unrolled was more than five feet long! It was basically another man’s interpretation—a timeline chart—of how he thought the events of the book of Revelation would play out in the last days. It contained ideas cobbled together from many sources including a number of well-known Christian prophecy pundits who have little or no idea about the Torah or Hebraic biblical understandings, meaning their biblical understanding—including their interpretations on the book of Revelation—is incomplete and not to be trusted. The man asked me to critique his work. After looking at this chart for a couple of minutes, I rolled it back up, stuck it back in the tube and shelved it.
To the kind gentleman  who had emailed me the pdf commentary on the book of Revelation requesting my opinion, I wrote the following:

We all have our hunches about how Bible prophecy along with the book of Revelation will play out, but we’re all wrong. Some of us may have parts and pieces of the truth, but most Bible prophecy will not be fully understood until after it happens. 

For the most part, those prophecy pundits and Bible students who formulate timelines, charts and write commentaries on the book of Revelation and other end time Bible prophecies in an attempt to explain the exact meaning of the metaphorical symbols and to predict how these prophecies will be fulfilled, by whom and when are engaging in folly. No one knows these things exactly, and know will know, again, in most cases, until after they have come to pass, and even then, most people will not even understand the prophecies at that time.

Here is a case in point: Even Yeshua’s disciples didn’t understand what his role was to be or how he was to fulfill the many Old Testament Messianic prophecies about him until after his resurrection. Do we really think that our biblical understanding and spiritual perspicacity is greater than theirs? If so, than this is not only folly on our part, but extreme arrogance and hubris! Perhaps we need to explore the biblical meaning of humility and faith. Let me explain what I mean.

Regarding faith, if we were to know the exact details concerning the fulfillment of biblical prophecy including the book Revelation, then our spiritual walk would no longer be a faith walk as per the biblical definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1, would it?

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

We’d now be walking by sight, not by faith, which is the opposite of what Scripture enjoins us to do (2 Cor 5:7).

No, the main purpose of Bible prophecy isn’t to provide us with a sort of crystal ball to know what’s going to happen in the future. It’s purpose is only to raise our hope by providing us with a shadowy understanding of future events, like looking through a glass darkly (1 Cor 13:12), even as the ancient Jews had a shadowy understanding about the coming of Messiah, but they didn’t know the full or exact details of how biblical prophecies concerning him would play out. The exact fulfillment of those prophecies was hidden from the majority of Jews, which is why they killed him. YHVH divinely revealed only to a few of Yeshua’s closest associates how he perfectly fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies concerning him.

Now this brings us to the main purpose of Bible prophecy, as I see it. It’s not so that humans can use the Bible as a sort of crystal ball or as a means to divine or augur the exact details of the future, but so that after the prophecies have been fulfilled, and the understanding of them is divinely revealed to YHVH’s faithful saints (as occurred to Yeshua’s disciples after his resurrection) that the omniscience and glory of YHVH Elohim will be manifested causing humans to glorify, praise and worship him. Please not: Even an understanding of the fulfillment of the prophecies is by divine revelation and will not be understood by the vast majority of people. For example, what majority of the Jewish population understood that Yeshua the Messiah was who he was in his day…or even today? 

What, therefore, should be the main focus of our spiritual walk as Bible believers? Namely this: We need to pursue holiness and righteousness through a spiritual relationship with Yeshua as we love him by obeying his Word. Our future is in his hands, and the just shall walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 5:7; Heb 11:1). In his hands, we are safe and secure no matter how the prophecies of the Bible play out.

What is the bottom line here? Keep your eyes on Yeshua and have faith in him, and not on how you think Bible prophecy is going to play out, because no one knows these things. Make no mistake about it, the vast majority of those people who “understand” Bible prophecy are those who have something to sell you; they want to make a name for themselves for the purpose of human pride, control and mammon. Beware!


 

Jacob’s End Times Prophecies

Genesis 47:28–49:28, Jacob’s end times prophecy. The Jewish sages recognize that this final portion of Genesis chronicles Jacob’s wish to reveal to his sons some prophetic understandings pertaining to Israel’s long and numerous exiles, culminating in “the Final Redemption” or “the Second Exodus” (i.e. the return of Israel [all twelve tribes, not just the Jews] from her exile in “Babylon” at the end of the age just prior to and after the return of Messiah at which time the two houses of Israel will be reunited under Messiah Son of David).

Jacob states the timing of his prophecies regarding his sons in Genesis 49:1 when he predicts what will befall them “in the last days.”

The Jewish sages believe that prior to the establishment of the Messianic Age (or Millennium), all Israel will go into a time of darkness, gloom and exile.

The sages deduct the timing and tenor of this prophecy from the fact that the Torah scroll fails to place the customary nine spaces between the last word of the previous parashah (or Torah portion), which ends in verse 27 and the next parashah, which begins in verse 28. There is only a one space gap in the Hebrew letters between these two Torah portions, which predicts the “closing in” of Israel as they go into exile and captivity in Egypt.

The sages believe that these prophecies not only predicted Israel’s first exile into  and redemption from Egypt but also a latter, end times one as well because biblical history often repeats itself. This is evident by the fact that some of these prophecies weren’t fulfilled until Messiah came the first time and afterwards. More on this latter, so stay tuned.


 

Are We Experiencing a Leftist Revolution in America? (part 2)

The raised Antichrist, secular humanist fist of rebellion and defiance against YHVH Elohim

Way back on March 18, 2003 when I had a weekly Hebrew roots teaching program on Christian radio station KKPZ, I put out what I called “A Wake Up Call to the Body of Messiah in America.” That small radio station in Portland, Oregon wasn’t much of a platform to put out such a message, but I used the meager resources YHVH had put at my disposal at that time.

In that message I said,

A righteous remnant of end time spiritual warriors has been fighting an uphill battle against immorality, abortion, rebellion against YHVH’s biblical laws, humanism, Marxism/socialism, Eastern “spirituality”/New Age, and the global takeover by a consortium of political and corporate fascists commonly called the New World Order or biblically known as Babylon the Great. The latest addition to this list is the Antichrist religion of Islam and antisemitism. Both are presently raising their demonic heads in the traditional Judeo-Christian nations of Europe and America. Islam began knocking on the spiritual door of America a few decades ago, and now because of the large numbers of Moslems in this country, Islam has become a threat worth noting. The goal of Islam is definite, for the Koran states it clearly: to take over the world and to dispossess both Christians and Jews of their lands, property and, if necessary, their lives.

As a nation, we find ourselves in this situation because we turned our back on Elohim, and have failed to repent of the sins. Now the judgment of Islam and along with the illegal alien invasion is coming against us (as allowed by Elohim) to hopefully wake us up and drive us to our knees before our Father in heaven. These curses are coming against America because of its moral and spiritual weakness. Like biological pathogens, these threats to America are feeding on the physical and spiritual body politic of this nation because its spiritual immune system has been seriously compromised due to moral and spiritual declension due to its weak, hireling and apostate spiritual leaders.

I then went on to issue a wake up call to America’s Christian leaders and laity, and I identified the specific sins that would bring Elohim’s judgment on America.

Then in September 2007 at our annual Feast of Tabernacles gathering on the southern Oregon coast before about 120 people, I gave out my teaching entitled, “Is America in End-Time Bible Prophecy? What Scripture Prophesies Will Happen to America Economically, Politically, Militarily and Spiritually Just Prior to the Second Coming.” In that teaching, the written form of which I published and has been on the front page of our ministry website ever since (https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/america.pdf), I warned and predicted that Edom (the Moslems) and its Marxists, leftist sympathizers and allies would attempt to take over America because of apostasy and lukewarmness in the Christian church. I predicted, based on my understanding of the Scriptures, that Elohim would use Edom/Islam et al as a giant paddle to spank America (and other western formerly Christian nations as well) for turning away from him. These would be judgments unto repentance. Most, I predicted would remain asleep, but some would wake up spiritually and that there would be a small, remnant spiritual revival, to one degree or another. I even predicted, again based on my understanding of the Scriptures, that, on a limited scale, there might even be some nuclear bombs that would be lobbed into the U.S. by its Edomite enemies or their allies. This was well before nations like Iran and North Korea had the atomic bomb! At this time, Hillary Clinton was running for president against the relatively unknown Barak Hussein Obama. It looked as if Clinton would definitely win the Democratic Party nomination and go on to become the president of the U.S. In my teaching at the Feast of Tabernacles, I predicted that if Obama  won (a long shot), it would fulfill Bible prophecy, since Edom would now be in the White House as a judgment against backslid “Christian America.” Well, Obama did win, and the rest, as they say, is history. Now the predominant daily headlines in the news either pertains to LGBTQ or Moslem Continue reading


 

When It Comes to Prophecy Teachers: Caution, Danger, Warning!

Many if not most Bible prophecy pundits or teachers on the internet are reckless and cavalier in their interpretations of end-times Bible prophecy. They play fast and loose with the Scriptures to come up with eartickling prophetic scenarios that are designed to wow and amaze their audiences!

The methods of biblical interpretation of many of these prophecy teachers are questionable, flawed and are often illogical upon closer analysis. In many cases, they, with self-assertive, over-confidence add two and two and get five, and with bold, and at the same time, boldly, yet recklessly assure their listeners that it is the truth—and, oh, by the way, they quietly slip into their spiel, “buy my video or book on the subject.”

Their ostensible authoritativeness is often bolstered by glib and articulate presentations, high quality videography, top-of-the-line websites, and professionally-designed graphics for book covers and dvd jackets all of which helps to legitimize (in people’s minds, at least) what they’re saying. Despite all this, often their prophetic pronouncements still don’t line up with the whole truth of the Bible.

I’m reminded of the saying, “If you can’t convince your audience with the truth and the facts, then wow, amaze and baffle them with lots of horse puckey.” Most people, sadly, aren’t critical thinkers, but are too trusting and gullible.

The reckless confidence of these guys and gals is often an alluring, but false facade for their own lack of a knowledge of the whole counsel of the Word of Elohim. Many of these teachers are neophytes when it comes to the study and teaching of the Bible. They’ve only been at it for a few years—not for decades, which is what it takes to come to a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of Scripture.

Furthermore, be wary of anyone is claiming to unlock the mysteries of Bible prophecy and has merchandise to peddle out of it!  Many of them are modern snake-oil salesmen.

Yes, we need to study end times Bible prophecy. It’s in the Bible for our admonition and edification, but let’s be cautious about being overly dogmatic about most of it, and certainly, let’s be extremely careful about cobbling together disparate and unrelated biblical passages and then cramming them to fit and painting them to match and ending up with end times scenarios that are in error, thus leading people astray by false teachings as they enrich themselves financially.

Over the decades, I have seen too much of this going on and many prophecy teachers have been proven to look like money-grubbing fools to the rational, biblically astute and Spirit-led person. There is nothing new under the sun, and around the corner is a whole new batch of poor, gullible suckers waiting to be deceived!

Be on guard!