We mentioned the fact that “the time of Jacob’s distress” (Jer. 30:7) refers to the 70 years of Babylonian captivity. Dispensationalists claim Jacob’s Trouble is the 7-year Great Tribulation. Note the vast difference here: 7 years versus 70 years. So, brothers and sisters, let us look at the evidence provided by Scripture. “‘And this whole land shall be a desolation and a horror, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the LORD, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation’” (Jer. 25:11-12, emphasis supplied). Which land is Jeremiah referring to here? That is right; Israel. “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place’” (Jer. 29:10, emphasis supplied). Which place will they be brought back to? That is right; Israel.
“For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, ‘The exile will be long; build houses and live in them and plant gardens and eat their produce’” (Jer. 29:28, emphasis supplied). What is the setting of this verse? For those who are honest and do not feel a compelling need to twist the words of Scripture, the setting here has to do with the Babylonian captivity. “Send to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite, “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, although I did not send him, and he has made you trust in a lie”’” (Jer. 29:31, emphasis supplied). With this verse, there is no denying that it, as well as verse 28, refers to the Babylonian captivity. Are we to believe that between this verse and the first seven verses of chapter 30 there exists a substantial gap in time? I do not be thinking so.
“For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, ‘The exile will be long; build houses and live in them and plant gardens and eat their produce’” (Jer. 29:28, emphasis supplied). What is the setting of this verse? For those who are honest and do not feel a compelling need to twist the words of Scripture, the setting here has to do with the Babylonian captivity. “Send to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite, “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, although I did not send him, and he has made you trust in a lie”’” (Jer. 29:31, emphasis supplied). With this verse, there is no denying that it, as well as verse 28, refers to the Babylonian captivity. Are we to believe that between this verse and the first seven verses of chapter 30 there exists a substantial gap in time? I do not be thinking so.
The word “behold” means “to pay attention.” My Dispensationalist friend, you would do well to do precisely that. Notice very carefully that verse 3 says He will restore the captivity of His people and bring them back to the land. They are in captivity. The setting has not changed. Notice verse 8. Whose yoke shall He break from off their necks? Nebuchadnezzar’s: “‘And it will be, that the nation or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence,’ declares the LORD, ‘until I have destroyed it by his hand’” (Jer. 27:8, emphasis supplied). Notice also what verse 10 of chapter 30 says, “‘And fear not, O Jacob My servant,’ declares the LORD, ‘And do not be dismayed, O Israel; For behold, I will save you from afar, And your offspring from the land of their captivity. And Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, And no one shall make him afraid’” (emphasis supplied). The time of Jacob’s Trouble is the 70 years of Babylonian captivity—not this imaginary 7-year “Great Tribulation” the Dispensationalists have dreamed up. “The time of Jacob’s Trouble” is not something in the future; it is something already fulfilled. It was speaking of the Babylonian captivity.The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,” Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Write all the words which I have spoken to you in a book. For, behold, days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will restore the [captivity] of My people Israel and Judah.’ The LORD says, ‘I will also bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers, and they shall possess it.’” Now these are the words which the LORD spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah, “For thus says the LORD, ‘I have heard a sound of terror, of dread, and there is no peace. Ask now, and see, if a male can give birth. Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in childbirth? And why have all faces turned pale? Alas! for that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob's distress, But he will be saved from it. And it shall come about on that day,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from off their neck, and will tear off their bonds; and strangers shall no longer make them their slaves. But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them’”(Jeremiah 30:1-9, emphasis supplied.)