visited with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. Then the rest of this prophecy shall also literally be

fulfilled, and God will not break His covenant, though Israel brake His statutes. For though "the children of

Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince and without a sacrifice... afterward, shall

the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and

His goodness in the latter days" (Hosea iii. 4, 5). In Amos ix. we have another powerful description of this.

"For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve,

YET shall not the least grain fall to the ground"! (verse 9). Why? For what purpose are they preserved? See

verses 14, 15, "And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste

cities, and inhabit them: and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; and they shall also make

gardens and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land and they shall no more be pulled up

out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord."

But before they can rejoice in the blessings of the glorious and peaceful reign of "David their King" the

Lord Jesus Christ, they will experience the tribulation under the Anti-Christ. This is spoken of in many of the

Prophets, but at greater length in Daniel and Revelation. It appears from many prophecies that the nation is

not to be gathered all at once, or all at one and the same time. The first thing that transpires is that before the

appearing of Christ in glory and before the great ingathering of Israel, which will then take place, a smaller,

and partial, and informal assembling, such as we see, it may be, the beginnings of, at the present moment,

will take place. We read Zech. xiv. 2-4, "I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle: and the city shall

be taken, and the houses rifled... THEN shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations as when He

fought in the day of battle, and His feet shall stand in the day upon the Mount of Olives." Thus, it is against

Israel that this battle shall be waged, and it is in connection with this battle that the Lord comes. When He

thus comes, Israel, in part at least, are already in Jerusalem. The Tribes of Judah and Levi are mentioned by

name in Zech. xii., where the same events are spoken of. "Behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling

unto all people round about, when they shall be in the siege, both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And

in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people," etc. (Zech. xii. 2, 3, etc.). Joel also

speaks of the same siege. "For behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity

of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations and will bring them down into the valley of

Jehoshaphat," etc. (Joel iii). Ezekiel describes the Land as at this time partially and sparsely inhabited.

Speaking to the Anti-Christ Jehovah says, "And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages;

I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of the dwelling without walls, and having neither bars

nor gates, to take a spoil and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon desolate places that are now inhabited,

and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in

the midst of the land... and thou shalt come up against my people of Israel as a cloud to cover the land: it

shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall

be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes" (Ezek. xxxviii. 11, 12, 16).

From Zech. xii. 9, 10 it is also clear that repentance is then bestowed upon Israel by the true Joseph who

then makes himself known to his brethren. "And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy

all the nations that come against Jerusalem, and I will pour upon the house of David and upon the

inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication: and they shall look upon me whom they

have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son," etc.

From Matt. xxiv. 15 and 2 Thess. ii. 4 it also appears that the Temple will be, in some measure at least, rebuilt;

for "the abomination of desolation13 spoken of by Daniel the prophet" in connection with this time of

"Jacob's trouble," when his (Daniel's) people shall be delivered, is seen, set up and standing in the holy

place. (Dan. xii. 11, R.V.)

Abomination is a common term for an idol (I Kings xi. 5-7; 2 Kings xxiii. 13.) In the R.V., Daniel ix. 27 reads,

"Upon the wing of abominations shall come one that maketh desolate," i.e., unborne by demoniacal power

shall the Anti-christ come. With this agrees 2 Thess. ii. 9; Rev. xiii. 2, 13, 14, 15.