What Is Jacob's Trouble?

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So what is Jacob's trouble according to the Bible and how does it apply to today? It's time for the line of fire with your host, biblical scholar and cultural commentator, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on the line of fire. And now, here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. It is Thirdly Jewish Thursday. This is Michael Brown delighted to have this time with you as we focus on subjects relating to Israel and the Jewish people, but always with the same spirit to infuse you with faith and truth and courage to help you stand strong on the front lines. We've got a great Jewish testimony we'll be sharing in our next front line newsletter, so if you're not getting our front line newsletters, by all means sign up today.

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866-348-7884, 866-34-TRUTH. What about Jacob's trouble in the Bible? Jeremiah chapter 30. Is this a prophecy of something that will happen in the future in the land of Israel? Will there be massive suffering, massive decimation of the Jewish people in the land of Israel, massive desolation on a national level? Will it be a time, maybe according to Zechariah 13, where two thirds of the people in the land are wiped out? Are Christians praying for Jewish people to return to the land of Israel to be slaughtered en masse? Is Jacob's trouble speaking maybe about something in the past, the Holocaust, which is speaking about something that happened in the first or second century after the destruction of the temple and with the destruction of Jerusalem?

Is it something going back to the sixth century B.C.? How should we understand it? And what can we expect of the future of the Jewish people in the land of Israel?

Is that going to be the least safe place on the planet for Jewish people? We're going to talk about this today. It's obviously a relevant subject. It's not just abstract, prophetic theorizing.

This is something that matters that we should understand. So we're going to dig into it together. Jeremiah Chapter 30 is our text. Jeremiah 30, we're going to dig in. And I looked at this passage in great depth years ago when I was working on my commentary on Jeremiah.

And I'll share some of what I wrote in the commentary with you. By the way, if you just look for the commentary on its own, it may come up when you search for it, Michael L. Brown Jeremiah. But it was part of the revised Expositor's Bible Commentary series. The original Expositor's Bible Commentary in 12 volumes was award winning. I was asked, among a number of other scholars, to come in and write new volumes on some of the previous ones. So Charles Feinberg, a Messianic Jewish scholar, had written Jeremiah. I did the New Jeremiah. So it's interesting, Jewish believers wrote both of those. And I was only supposed to go to three hundred fifty pages, which was a little longer than his.

I went to five hundred fifty. But they liked the content so much they said, great, we'll go with this. You only get royalties on the three fifty. Listen, you don't write a commentary for royalties. You could make more money digging a ditch using a pick, you know, or a toothpick.

So you don't do it for that reason. But I was glad they included the extra content. So it's a nice, beefy part of the volume. But it's together.

When you get it, you get it together. It's Jeremiah. And then another scholar did Lamentations, another scholar did Ezekiel. And so they're all part of the same volume. But the Jeremiah is the biggest chunk of it.

So if you just look for it independently, you might find it. If you look for it within the revised edition of the expositor's Bible commentary, then you'll absolutely find it. OK, we're going to start in Jeremiah Chapter 30, verse one, the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord. Thus said the Lord, the God of Israel, write down in a scroll all the words I have spoken to you. For days are coming, declares the Lord, will I restore the fortunes of my people Israel and Judah, said the Lord. And I will bring them back to the land that I gave their fathers and they shall possess it. And these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel. And Judah, so Jeremiah, who begins prophesying in the year six twenty seven B.C., so he's a he's a youth, we don't know if it's 13 years old, 15 years old, 18, but he's he's a he's a young man.

He describes himself as an artist, know how to speak just as the youth. And he begins speaking in the 13th year of King Josiah. Josiah began to reign in 640.

So at six twenty seven B.C. and he continues prophesying for over 40 years. And his unrelenting theme is that Judah is going to be judged by God, that Jerusalem is going to be destroyed, that the people will go into exile.

And of course, that's what happened. There were a series of exiles. The final one was culminated with the destruction of the temple being in 586 B.C., a previous one about 11 years earlier and then one prior to that as well. But the one that the cataclysmic event when the temple is destroyed and the final exiles take place from Jude and Benjamin, that's 586 B.C. So he's prophesying and warning over 40 years about the destruction that's coming.

And then it happens. So here's yet another warning about the destruction which is imminent, the destruction which is coming soon. Verse five. Thus said the Lord, we have heard cries of panic, terror without belief, ask and see surely males do not bear young. Why then do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor? Why have all faces turned pale? Ah, that day is awesome.

There is none like it. It is a time of trouble for Jacob, but he shall be delivered from it. And that day declares the Lord. I will break the yoke from off your neck and I will rip off your bonds. Strangers shall no longer make slaves of them. Instead, they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king. And I will raise up for them.

All right. So on the one hand, there's a destruction that is prophesied here. A time of trouble for Jacob or other translations time of Jacob's trouble. That certainly applies to things that took place over 2500 years ago. And and the people of Israel, the Jewish people were delivered from that. But it goes on to say that they're going to serve the Lord and David their king.

Well, that did not happen. That messianic prophecy was not yet fulfilled. David speaking that of the previous King David, but as as a description of the Messiah, that hasn't happened yet. So there are aspects to this that are clearly in the past.

Other aspects have not been fulfilled. The way the prophets saw things, they saw redemption coming on the immediate horizon of history. So Israel, Judah is going to be destroyed. The final redemption will come. Well, there may be 2000 years between that destruction and the final redemption or 3000 years between the destruction, the final redemption.

But but they're seen as as back to back. The prophets would see the Messiah coming on the immediate horizon of history. So the Davidic King would be born and would be greatly celebrated as if he could be the Messiah. But it turns out he's not.

He's not. He won't fulfill those prophecies. And then with the temple destroyed and then with no Davidic ruler.

And now with the people of Judah subject to the Persians and the Romans, then excuse me, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. Now you're just wondering when is that Messiah going to come? We don't even have an earthly king here. We don't have an earthly throne. We don't have an earthly David that's ruling the nation. When, when will that messianic king come? And that's been the hope, the cry for two millennia from Jewish people around the world. And those who have not recognized Yeshua as Messiah continue to say, when will the Messiah come?

So Jacob's trouble certainly has to have application to Jeremiah's day. In other words, there's no way to read the text, no way to read this text and just make it something future. There's no way to read this text and say, well, it's still something future in terms of destruction coming on Israel, still something future in terms of yet another greater Holocaust coming on the Jewish people. It's still something future.

Well, the text doesn't indicate that. The text indicates that it's something that was going to happen out of which the Jewish people would be delivered. And in light of Jeremiah's prophecies, dozens and dozens and dozens of prophecies through his book over and over and over and over and over and over and over, saying plainly, saying plainly that that Jerusalem will be destroyed, that these terrible things will happen.

You can't just make it future. You know, for example, let's say that I'm prophesying. And and in the years ahead, there will be an economic collapse in America and the Dow Jones Wall Street will collapse.

But then it will rebuild and there'll be greater prosperity and the stock market will be the highest and strongest it's ever been, et cetera. Well, to make that I'm speaking about something three thousand years down the line has no meaning, no purpose, no relevance. So Jeremiah is constantly calling for his people to repent and warning about coming to destruction, coming to destruction, coming to destruction. And yet there are aspects to the prophecies that that have a future application as well. So here's what I wrote about this in my Jeremiah commentary.

I said this verse seven of Jeremiah 30 is another verse in Jeremiah that has had a life of its own, reaching far beyond the sixth century B.C. with books and articles written in the 21st century A.D. on the subject of Jacob's trouble, as rendered in the King James Version. What is especially striking is the fact that a tremendous amount of ink has been spilled, discussing the nature and extent of Israel's suffering, presumed to be future basis based on verses six and seven, whereas the prevailing theme in the surrounding verses is deliverance from trouble and great blessing following that time of suffering. And the immediate context note verse three, the return from exile, verse eight, the breaking of the oak of the oppressor, verse nine, serving the Lord and the Messianic King versus 10 and 11 words of comfort and security, verse 16, punishment of Judas' enemies in healing for her own wounds, verses 18 to 22, gloriously restored in the land with the Messianic ruler at the helm. Nonetheless, the description of the day as unique as Matthew 24, 21, Jesus speaks of the coming destruction on Jerusalem then as being unique, introduced by the word hoi, woe, has contributed to the emphasis on the nature and extent of Jacob's trouble. As paraphrased in the message, the blackest of days, no day like it ever, a time of deep trouble for Jacob, but he'll come out of it alive.

The noun Sarah, which is defined, comes from the root Sarah, includes the meaning of misery, anguish, affliction, trouble. And it's and with all the imagery, it speaks of the pangs of childbirth, et cetera. So there's no question that it's saying that it's going to be an intense time.

But there's a promise that Israel will be delivered from it. So I said in terms of interpreting these verses, especially five through seven, there are a number a number of potential approaches for later readers of Jeremiah. One, everything refers to the events that unfolded in the sixth century B.C. with no reference to any period beyond that. So it's all past to the primary application as to the events that unfolded in the sixth century B.C. with the possibility of secondary future applications. Three, both the immediate application and the distant future are equally intended and applicable for. There may have been a past period called called Jacob's trouble, but the primary application is to various future events such as the Holocaust. Five, everything refers to events that are yet to unfold to a future tribulation period called Jacob's trouble with no historical application of the text. So what's my interpretation? But you got to wait to the other side of the break to hear it. Stay right here.

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Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Yeah, thanks for joining us today on the Line of Fire. I cut in on our thoroughly curious Thursday musics. Some weeks I nail it.

I remember we got introductory music and sometimes I don't. 866-348-7884. If it's Jewish related, we'll gladly take your calls today. Okay, so Jacob's Trouble in Jeremiah 30. Does it refer exclusively to an event back in Jeremiah's day, the destruction of Jerusalem, the decimation of Judah, thousands going into exile? Is that all it's talking about? Is it exclusively future something that has not yet happened unrelated to Jeremiah's day or any past event? Is it something referring to Jeremiah's day with application in different generations and ultimately with a final application?

So let's get back to what I wrote in the commentary, and I would think you would agree that this is not just abstract. This is an important question. Does this biblical prophecy say that there's a worst Holocaust waiting for the Jewish people? Does biblical prophecy say it's going to happen in the land?

Or is this something that's happened already? What should we think? What should we understand? What about Jewish people going back to the land? Is that a good place to be?

Is it an unsafe place to be? So here we go. Oh, wrong page here. So the idea that Jacob's trouble is exclusively future. The Jeremiah 30 is speaking of something exclusively future. That's impossible because it's in the context of the coming destruction of Babylon. It would be like saying a Holocaust is coming to the Jewish people and you're in 1940 in Europe. But you don't mean that one. You mean a future one. No, that would make no sense.

It would be utterly unthinkable if you had that dire warning in advance. But it's not, in my view, it's not just a historic past event. Jacob's trouble is not just something from the past 2500 years ago.

Why do I say that? One thing is it talks about Israel and Judah together. Whereas the northern tribes are already large the exile, then the coming destruction in Babylon was not Israel and Judah, but just Judah. So the fact it talks about Israel and Judah together is speaking of something beyond what happened 2500 years ago, that's number one. Number two, there are messianic promises with it.

There are promises of Israel serving God and the Messiah that come out of this. So that says that there is still a future application of this. So you can't say it's exclusively future.

You can't say it's exclusively past. So there's an immediate application in Jeremiah's day. There's an ultimate application at the end of the world.

So here's what I wrote. This means while this means that while it would certainly be incorrect to see Jeremiah 30 as a prophecy of the Holocaust, as some have taken it, it would be valid on some level to apply these verses to the terrible period Israel's history, a period followed by what many would see as the beginning of Israel's end time spiritual restoration, marked by the physical reestablishment of the state of Israel in 1948, having been saved out of the decimation of the Holocaust. So the point is that there was an ancient application, an ongoing application through history, a future application.

And the immediate application had to be relevant in Jeremiah's day. He's prophesying about his people, his day coming destruction. The city of Jerusalem. He's in Anatole, this home city.

He's ministering in Jerusalem. Destruction is coming. He's warning the people.

And it happened. It's impossible to think that when he spoke of the coming trouble, he wasn't thinking of that. He wasn't including that at the same time. That does not exhaust the meaning of the passage. There is still yet a future time of tribulation, of testing for Jacob, for Israel that Jeremiah is speaking about that will still come to pass.

However, some of that application could be also referring to the Holocaust. In other words, there is the decimation and destruction in Jeremiah's day and the horrible suffering. And there is the decimation and horrible suffering, the Holocaust, out of which came deliverance. And then what will ultimately lead to Israel's acceptance of the Messiah. You could even say, based on Zechariah 14, that there will be final battle, that half of the city of Jerusalem will be will be exiled out of the city, that women will be attacked and ravaged, and treated brutally.

But once again, what's the theme? The theme is that God will deliver Israel out of it. If there was any place I could be on the planet as a Jew in the last days before Yeshua's return, it would be in the land of Israel, because there's this an explicit promise in Zechariah 14, that the Lord will come and fight for Israel, that he will fight against the enemies, the nations that attack. And if we give revelation, a future application, there's going to be upheaval and destruction and shaking all over the world. So the idea that you're praying for the Jewish people to return to exile and two thirds are going to be wiped out if they come back to the land, that's the worst place to be.

No, to the contrary. That's the safest place to be. The whole world is going to be shaken. And yes, there will be trouble and distress for people all over the world. But the big promise in Jeremiah 30 is God saying, I'll deliver you out of it. I'll deliver you out of it.

I'll deliver you out of it. So minimizing future suffering for the whole world. God knows exactly how that will plan out. I don't claim to understand any every prophetic word or perfectly how to understand the Book of Revelation, far from it. But the broad strokes are clear to me. The supernatural return of our people back to the land by the will of God, by the hand of God. That is as clear as day to me and fully supported by scripture in the Old and New Testament, clear as day.

And I would dare say if you just read the Bible on your own. And so what unfolded in history, you would think, wow, this is an end time restoration of the Jewish people as promised, even in unbelief, as God then turns their hearts to the Messiah on the final day. That's clear to me. Clear to me that there'll be final shaking around the world. Clear to me that God's people will be here to go through it. Clear to me that he will protect us. God will protect us from his wrath. Clear to me that he will give us grace to overcome the attacks of Satan and people.

Clear to me that in the end, no matter what shaking takes place, he will deliver his people Israel and bring them on a national level to faith in Jesus, Yeshua, the Messiah. If you don't have my books, let me grab these here. If you don't have these two books, Hands are Stained with Blood, the Tragic Story of the Church and the Jewish People, I'm not exaggerating to say it'll probably be the most eye opening book or one of the most eye opening books you've ever read in your life. You'll weep on pages. You'll be shocked on others. You rejoice at the end. Our hands are stained with blood.

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This is only when the states were able to do this. Or if you'd like the two books, Christian anti-Semitism and Our Hands are Stained with Blood, just check the website for how to get those. You can order them anywhere. I think you'll find them incredibly relevant as well as eye opening and then essential, probably want to get them for your friends as well. OK, we come back. We're going to go to the phones. 866-34-TRUTH. And I got a clip from my friend, Rabbi Shmueli, always in the news here.

He's on a conservative news station in Australia. And I want to play that clip for you a little later in the show. We will be right back. Hey, friends, Michael Brown here, my delight to serve as your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. We are living in such urgent times today, friends, that all of us are in the line of fire. There's a target on your back.

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So much more. Join our support team today. Go to the line of fire dot org, donate monthly support. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. All right, we started to have some Jewish music there, the sacred words of the Shema from Deuteronomy six.

Not sure what happened there, but welcome to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. Michael Brown, delighted to be with you. 866-34-7884. Let's go to the phones with Rita in Arkansas.

Welcome to the line of fire. You're on the air, Dr. Brown. Sure thing. It's always a pleasure.

God bless you and your ministry. I'll try to be as brief as possible and I'll take my answer off the air. But I have two questions. So when God promised Abraham the promised land, I believe to be the land of Canaan. Was it already occupied? And this is tied to, I guess, the present day controversy of who occupied Israel first and a lot of people like to go back to nineteen forty eight. But actually the northern and southern kingdom dates back much further, I believe to nine twenty two B.C. But if you can answer that question and my second question is if you could explain or clear up the confusion for me in Exodus, chapter twenty two versus twenty eight and twenty nine, and I would have to put you on speaker to read those verses. But since I can't put you on speaker now, maybe you can access it.

But if if I didn't know any better, it sounds like God is requiring of Israel child sacrifice. If you can clear up the confusion, I would appreciate it. You bet. Thank you for your time. You are very welcome.

Thanks for the questions. OK, so when Abraham was called by God, Abram to leave Ur of the Chaldees, leave Haran in the end of Genesis 11, and then he's called into the land of Canaan. Yes, there are other people that live there. And the Bible often references seven different peoples that live there.

Jebusites and Amorites, et cetera. So they live there. They were stronger and more numerous than Israel in Israel's infancy.

So absolutely. There were others that live there. It wasn't empty, desolate land. So what you need to do then is read Genesis chapter 15. Genesis 15.

Really, that's where you'll find the answer to your question. God said that there would be a period of centuries of generations where the the children of Israel, Abraham's descendants, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, his seed would serve as slaves in a foreign land. They would be oppressed. This is speaking of the Israelites in Egypt until the iniquity of the Amorites, meaning the people in the land of Canaan, reached full measure. So in other words, God was waiting and Israel suffered because of this. The Jewish people or the people of Israel suffered in captivity in Egypt for many, many years because it was not yet time for the inhabitants of Canaan to be driven out. So, yes, when God called Abraham to live there, there were people living there already.

There's plenty of room for everybody. It wasn't heavily populated, but there were different people, people groups living there. God waited ultimately over 400 years to drive them out. It took that long until their sin had reached such a level where God said they need to be driven out. In that context, you can look at Leviticus chapter 18 that speaks of some of the sins that were committed by the people living in Canaan, from incest to bestiality, et cetera. And it says, because of these things, the land vomited them out.

And if you commit them to, it will vomit you out. So, yes, there were other people living there first. God said to Abraham, wait, it's going to be a period of time. It's going to be generations.

It's going to be centuries. And your descendants will be captive in a foreign land, in a foreign land. And then they'll serve as slaves there. And then when the iniquity, when the judgment reaches a high enough level, when the sins committed reach a high enough level, then I will give you the land and you will drive the people out. That'll be divine judgment on them.

You'll destroy them or drive them out. There are some who dispute that interpretation. But to me, it's quite straightforward.

And the way it's been read over the centuries is in terms of understanding what happened. And ultimately, it's God's world and God's land. So he says, OK, this is yours. And now you're sinning, you're sinning, you're sinning. You're defiling the land.

I'm going to kick you out his business to do it. And by the way, that's what he did with Israel over the centuries. He said that now this belongs to you. This is your internal inheritance. The other passage you want to go to is Psalm 105, Psalm 105. And that says, yes, this is the eternal inheritance. So as long as the earth lasts, this is the portion that's given to the people of Israel. So so God drove us out because of our sin and he brought us back because the land belongs to him and he said it's for you, for the people of Israel. As to who has the earlier claim, the Palestinian Arab population or the people of Israel to living in the land. Obviously, the people of Israel, as you said, the the kingdom, the the United Kingdom under David is it goes back to before 1000 B.C. or with with Saul right before 1000 B.C. And then the people there living go back to the conquest.

So Israel has the earlier claim over the Palestinian Arabs by hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years, and in some cases by more than a couple of millennia. All right. So Exodus 22, which you'd be referring to, there is the the consecration of the firstborn male sons.

So Exodus 22, beginning verse 28. Hang on. OK, here we go. All right.

OK, so you just described something that would suggest child sacrifice. Did you have the right reference? You should not put off this. Give me the first. OK, give me the first. OK, got it.

Got it. The firstborn among your sons. You shall do the same with your cattle. Your flocks, seven days shall remain with its mother. In the eighth day you shall give it to me.

Right. So what what the law when you read through the rest of it was the firstborn belongs to God. The firstborn of of every male in every family, be it a human family, be it an animal family. The firstborn male is given to God. So in the case of an animal is sacrificed to the Lord.

Correct. That was your way of dedication. Firstborn male, it's born, you bring it and it's sacrificed to the Lord. When it comes to the firstborn male child, which you did is redeemed that child and this is elsewhere taught in the Torah. You redeem that child with a specific sacrifice.

You would give an offering in its place or monetary offering. And then God raised up the tribe of Levi to take their place. So rather than the firstborn males all now going to serve in the temple or God forbid them being sacrificed to God because the Torah is explicit over and over and over and over. I mentioned Leviticus 18, the abominable things committed by the Canaanites that caused them to be driven out by God, one of them was sacrificing children to God, burning them in the fire.

So this is strongly, categorically, overwhelmingly prohibited in the Torah. So when God said firstborn male belongs to me, what you do is you would substitute an animal or there would be a monetary fee associated with it as an offering to the tabernacle and temple. And then the Levites would actually take their place. You had a whole tribe now that would serve in the tabernacle or temple. So it was not to be sacrificed. It was to be dedicated to the Lord. And now an animal would take the place and the Levites would take their place in actual service. Great questions.

866-348-7884. Rashi is the foremost biblical and Talmudic commentator in Judaism, lived from 1040 to 1105 in France. And his commentary on Genesis is very, very interesting. So he opens up commenting on the opening words in Hebrew, B'reishit Bara Elohim et ha'shamayim ve'et ha'aretz. And he quotes from Rabbi Isaac, who asked the question, why does the Torah start here? Why doesn't the Torah start instead with Exodus 12, this month is the first beginning of month two? In other words, why doesn't the Torah start with the beginning of the actual commandments to Israel about keeping the Passover?

In other words, after all, the Torah is about legislation and showing Israel how to live and the ways to please God and what the meets forth, the commandments are and how Israel will be separated from the nations and will glorify God. Why doesn't it start there? Why does it start with creation? And the answer is because in the future, the other nations will basically say, this is our land, this belongs to us. And and Israel can say, no, no, God created the world. God created the nations. And he can drive out who he wants to drive out and put in the land those he wants to put in the land.

And that's what he did. So it's just fascinating that that's being anticipated already in the commentary of Rashi over a thousand years ago. And he's quoting an earlier rabbi saying that. So why do you start with Genesis one? Now, of course, there are many other reasons to start with Genesis one and what we learned about God. And it's not just about laws and commandments.

It's about understanding God, understanding creation, understanding the world in which God placed us. But it is a fascinating comment that, yeah, the nations of the world are going to say this is not. And remember, Israel is in exile, the Jewish people are in exile. They're not living in the land of Israel and mass. When Rashi writes what he writes, it's just a small remnant of Jewish people living there in these centuries.

And yeah, but it's anticipated already that the nations are going to say, well, this is our list belongs to us. No, God gave it to you. You send you drove you out. He gives it to us.

Now he's giving it to Israel. He has the prerogative because he's God because he's the creator. You know, just may I speak to everyone here individually or personal life. We did not put ourselves here. We did not create the universe.

We did not create ourselves. There is that a human being on the planet that made a decision to be in this world. I decided I was going to be born one day. I decided I was going to know you were born.

I was born. We exist. We didn't ask to be put here. Most all human beings are glad that they're here.

Otherwise they commit suicide. They'd rather be here than not alive. But we didn't ask to be here. We didn't ask to be created. We didn't ask for the world to be put in place.

We didn't ask for any of this. God put us here. God created the universe. God put us here, and God has ordained a path for us. And we will one day give account to God every single one of us. Just as he created the world and partitioned the lands and the nations and then gave a certain portion to Israel. In the same way, he has given us gifts, graces. He has called us to himself through his son. And as believers, we will give account for our lives.

The whole world will give account, but we will account not whether we're saved it out if we're forgiven and cleansed for his people. But we will give account for our lives because we are here on assignment. You didn't ask to be here. God put you here. You put the drive to live, to create, to be all that you are.

The sense of destiny and purpose within you. It's our job to say, Lord, here I am. I want to live for you. I want to honor you. I want to serve you. How can I please you? What do you require of me?

Because there are requirements. Be right back. It's our resistance.

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These statements are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome, welcome to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday, 866-34-TRUTH. If you're not getting our frontline newsletter, be sure to get it. It'll bless you. It'll encourage you, edify you. Hebrew Word study each month, too. Just go to thelineoffire.org, thelineoffire.org.

Sign up today. Before I go back to the calls, Rabbi Shmueli, if you want someone to be an aggressive spokesperson on behalf of Israel and the Jewish people, fearless, confrontational, holding nothing back, but informed as well, that's my buddy, Rabbi Shmueli. Now, he will absolutely engage in debates differently than I will and will treat his opponents differently than I will. So we have our different styles and approaches, but we are friends and colleagues.

And when we do see each other, it's very warm and deep. So here he is. Is it Sky News? I think in Australia, apparently a conservative network, the question and answer speaks for itself.

Let's go to the broadcast. It looks like Israel was blindsided here by the future king's comments, which essentially amounted to calling for a ceasefire. Rita, I wish that Prince William knew some of the history, I'm sure he does, of his own great grandfather, King George VI, because when he was the leader of Great Britain, he sanctioned the carpet bombing of entire German cities.

We're talking Efton, Cologne, Berlin, Saxony, where civilians were deliberately targeted. This isn't in the time of Genghis Khan. This is in the time of his grandparents. Now, and of course, his grandmother served in the actual military as the heir to the throne.

Now, let's be clear. The United States during the Second World War never bombed at night, even though it would have protected their pilots. They used during the day daytime precision bombing, something called the Norden bombsite, which was the second greatest secret of the war after the atomic bomb, precision bombing. But the British didn't care. They said, we're going to stop the Nazis once and for all completely because they represent such a terrible evil that unless we carpet bomb the entire country, we're never going to see peace in our time.

They never apologized for it. Israel uses the American daytime precision bombing, losing hundreds of its soldiers when, of course, its air force could flatten Gaza. And here comes the Prince of Wales and says, why doesn't everybody like toast in a roast market all together and give up the fighting? I'll tell you why, Prince William.

You have a wife. You wouldn't want to see anything happen to her. Do you know that three hundred women were shot in the vaginas, their breasts cut off, played like with a volleyball with the terrorists? Do you know that children were decapitated, people burned alive? So if there were a ceasefire, Hamas says, we're going to do this again and again and again until every last Jew on earth is dead, which is why Prince William's grandfather, George VI, told Winston Churchill, bomb and do whatever you need to do to stop Britain from being annihilated. And we haven't even employed in Israel these things. So I just wish Prince William was a little bit more knowledge of the history, knowledgeable of the history.

Yeah, there you have it from Rabbi Shmueli speaks for itself. So comments that Prince Andrew had made, just like too many people are dying and should be a ceasefire. I don't rejoice in all the people dying, but I fully recognize Israel's need to demolish the power of Hamas as much as possible, which means people dying.

And if the terrorists would lay down their weapons and the people would say, all right, let's work together for a peaceful government, the world would look very different. But that is not the reality, sadly. So I'm worn over every loss of life.

I'm worn over everyone that dies that doesn't know the Lord. But this is reality. Israel, if Israel wanted to commit genocide, it could do it overnight. Overnight, it could wipe out virtually everybody in Gaza. It would not take that long with the people having nowhere to go. If they wanted to do it, they could do it.

Right, even to say the words is horrific. But if they wanted to do it, they could do it. If they wanted to practice ethnic cleansing, they could. Of course, the whole world would attack them for it, rightly so. But they have the power to. When you keep reading, if you read Israeli news about all the soldiers dying on a regular basis, you say, well, there are more terrorists dying.

Well, I would think so. And I would hope so in that regard, in terms of they're the ones that committed the atrocities. And Israel is just trying to fight for its safety and its existence here.

But bear this in mind. The reason that you keep hearing about Israeli soldiers dying is because they're trying to protect civilians and they're not just going and bombing everywhere and wiping everybody out, there'd be a lot less IDF casualties. And when Shmueli mentions soldiers dying, he's got a couple of his kids serving in the IDF.

This is not abstract. So again, I mourn over the shedding of Palestinian blood and the shedding of Israeli blood. I grieve over the upheaval that the evil deeds of Hamas have brought on the people in Gaza because Israel had to retaliate in fully understandable ways, is retaliating and is seeking not just revenge, but a better way forward for the future where they don't have to live with fears of another October 7th happening. So it's all grievous.

It's all painful. But we need to operate with equal standards here, not double standards. Don't hold Israel to a standard that no nation has been held to in history. Let's not do that. 866-344-TRUTH. All right, let us go to Julius in Destin, Florida. Welcome to the line of fire.

Hey, Michael Brown. God bless you. Do you hear me good?

Yeah, I do. Thanks. I just want to say, you know, I just praise God for everything that you do. You know, I just I think like in terms of people who defend the faith, I think like you're definitely by the grace of God, one of the best people who do it for four believers.

This is my first time asking a question. So, you know, Lord willing, in the future, I'll be on here to ask a couple more. But I just wanted to ask a question concerning Jesus being sacrificed for our sins. I am a believer. I believe in Christ. But this is more for one of my friends who's Muslim. Now, I believe ultimately that the revelation that you that you need Jesus sacrificed on the cross for our sins is a supernatural revelation that's given by God. But my Muslim friend, he believes that that's not necessary, that you should, that God should just be able to forgive us, because like there's certain examples of men in the Bible, for example, like Daniel or Abraham, who didn't necessarily need to do a sacrifice, like a sin offering for themselves in order to be made righteous with God. But it was just through faith in him that they were made righteous. So if there's a way that I can help him biblically to see his need for Christ some way, I would just want some help with that.

Yeah, absolutely. So first thing to ask him is, why does he think God established a sacrificial system for Israel? That's the first question.

Why is it there? Why is there a day of atonement? What were their animal sacrifices?

Why are there so many chapters in the Torah legislating the animal sacrifices and talk about what happens in the temple and explaining that atonement comes through the blood? That's the first question to to ask him. Right.

And this sort of there. Then ask him in his own life, are his deeds good enough to guarantee acceptance into paradise with Allah forever? Is he 100% sure that his deeds are good enough that his repentance is deep enough? Ask him, does he know other Muslims where he's 100% sure of their eternal fate based on them following the five pillars of Islam and engaging in repentance, etc. If he's honest, he's going to say no. We have to wait for that day.

No one can know for sure. So first ask him, why is there a sacrificial system in Israel? What was God trying to teach the people? That's one thing.

Second thing in your own life. Are you good enough? I know you asked for mercy from God.

You say is Arachman Arachim, but even with all his mercy, are you good enough? Can you guarantee that you're getting in? Is, you know, even if he knows his history well, was Mohammed 100% sure that he was getting in?

Right. You know, I asked a devoted imam in Florida years ago. I said, you're 100% sure of your fate in the world. He said, oh, no, no.

Another one told me 50 50. So ask him that personal question, because that's where the rubber meets the road. Right.

And then ask him. The next question is, what happened to Israel in history? In other words, if it's based on our works and repentance, what happened to the northern kingdom destroyed?

What happened to the southern kingdom exile? What happened to the Jewish people scattered around the world? What happened to the temple in Jerusalem? Demolished for 2000 years.

Let's go back further in history. What happened to the human race in Noah's day? Everybody wiped out except for Noah and then seven family members because of Noah.

In other words, it doesn't look good. What happens to the generation that came out of Egypt? They all died in the wilderness. So when left to ourselves, it's not just an individual Muslim, but when left to ourselves, we always fall short. Hence the need for a substitute. So this is this is what's important to understand, Julius, that throughout scriptural history, you see, there must be a substitute. Abraham believes God that through his seed in the offspring blessing through his seed in the future blessing will come to the whole world. So he trusts God ultimately is going to send a redeemer in the to whatever extent he understood all these concepts. So number one, we all fall short. There's a sacrificial system that God places in Israel for a reason.

We need a substitute. Given our own proclivities, it's like Martin Luther said, a rock can go up and down. If you let it go, it goes down.

If you pick it up, it goes up. We have to be picked up by God. So God wanted to be fair and just says this. I could destroy the whole world. I could destroy you for your guilt or my son. My son, who's perfect, will come into the world and willingly take your place.

He's perfect. He's my son. He will take your place. I will show my judgment. This is what your sin deserves.

I should wipe everybody out. I'm going to put that on my son. He's going to willingly take it. He's going to lay his life down on your behalf.

And if you put your trust in me and recognize my justice and my mercy, I'll forgive you and give you a new heart. Substitution. We need a substitute. We fail on our own. We need a substitute. God in his mercy sent one and he prepared through history. This home and system and everything. He prepared Israel to be ready. Hey, thank you, sir, for the call. Another program powered by the Truth Network.