Jacob's Trouble
Jer. 30:4: "These are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah." Again notice that it concerns Israel and Judah. It isn't the city of Jerusalem that's before Him, but it's Israel and Judah. "For thus saith the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace." He wants us to understand how they are feeling. His people are now in the land, and the Lord is having His work of judgment with their land and all the nations of the earth about it. They are trembling. There is fear and turmoil. Some of these feelings are expressed in the Psalms. Then we read: "Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.”
To understand this chapter, we need to recall what Jacob's trouble was. He was a man who wanted the blessing of God, wasn't he? But what was the problem in his life? Jacob wanted the blessing of God, but he thought he could get it by his own efforts. He even resorted to deceitful means to try to get it. Maybe you have had Jacob's trouble too. Maybe you feel like you can earn or that you deserve the blessing of God, so you strive after it and seek it with all the energy of your nature. Jacob schemed to get the blessing, but God had to teach Jacob that he could never get the blessing by striving for it. He had to learn that God was the Blesser according to His own heart of loving-kindness. Man only gets into trouble when he strives for himself.
God's earthly people haven't learned that lesson yet. They are now trying to secure their land and their blessing by their own efforts. But all twelve tribes will be brought into the land and then shall come a time of fear, great trembling and paleness in anticipation of all these enemies that are coming down upon their land. They are there and the Lord is there and they learn that the Lord is with them. He says to them in Jer. 30:10, "Therefore fear thou not, O My servant Jacob, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee.”
Fellow Christians, have we learned the lessons Israel will learn through Jacob's trouble? Israel has to go through it, and as we read the Word of God, we can apply these things to our own lives. Prophecy is not a dry, unintelligible thing. From it we learn the moral ways of God with His people and with us.
Here He says, "I will save thee." They have to learn to trust Him to save them. Maybe you need to learn that; maybe I need to learn that in my life. When they learn to trust in the Lord and not in themselves, then, in spite of their apparent helpless position of the enemy coming and they with unwalled villages, we read: "Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid." Why? "For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee; but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.”
The dispensational dealings and covenants of God with man change with time, but His moral ways are always constant. As you study prophecy you learn His ways with man, including yourself.
Bible Challenger Clues-05-May V.08
1. Judges; 2. Proverbs; 3. Leviticus; 4. Genesis; 5. Proverbs; 6. Proverbs; 7. Psalms; 8. Song of Solomon; 9. Numbers.
Questions and Answers
QUESTION: What does it mean to "grieve" and to "quench" the Spirit of God?
ANSWER: The allowance of flesh in the least degree in a Christian is to grieve the Spirit of God by which he has been sealed until the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30). He may grieve Him in many ways. The rejection of the light which God has given and worldliness grieve Him. In fact, everything that has not Christ for its motive and object must grieve God's Spirit and hinder our growth and communion.
To quench the Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19) is to hinder His free action in the members of Christ in the assembly. While there are special permanent gifts in the Church (Eph. 4:11), there are also the "joints and bands" which work effectually in the measure of every part, and by which the body of Christ increases. If they are hindered in true spiritual service, the Spirit of God is quenched.
There are dangers to be avoided on both sides. On one side, the danger is that because there is liberty "that all may learn, and all may be comforted," there may be the undervaluing of special gifts, which the ascended Christ has provided for His body, the Church. On the other side, there is the danger of quenching the Spirit in the various helps, joints and bands by which nourishment is ministered in the body of Christ, by putting special ministry in the place of the free action of the Holy Spirit in the members of Christ. Both are to be cherished, and the most spiritual are those who will value all that God gives.
In 1 Thess. 5:20, 21, the Apostle shows it is ministry he has in mind, while in verse 12 he exhorts them to own those who labor among them and esteem them highly in love for their work's sake. In verses 19-21 they were not to quench the Spirit in any, but at the same time to "prove all things" which were said and "hold fast that which is good."