During this great tribulation seven woes will close in upon beleaguered Judah, but some of the Jews will mock at these judgments. The expression, "His hand is stretched out still," in judgment, is repeated from time to time during the woes, for "iniquity will abound."
Isa. 5,9,10:1
A great apostasy will develop both among the Jews and the Gentiles which will be responsible for the formal setting up of idolatry, referred to as the abomination of desolation. Abomination will mean idolatry, and desolation will be from a desolator (the Assyrian), appointed by God. The setting up of idolatry by the apostates will cause the people of Judah to flee to the mountains to escape the impending attacks on the land from the armies of Assyria and her confederates who will be the surrounding nations.
The gospel of the kingdom will be preached by the believing Jewish remnant to all nations of the prophetic earth for a witness to them, also false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and miracles so that, if it were possible, the very elect would be deceived.
Rev. 14:66And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, (Revelation 14:6) Matt. 24:1414And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:14) Matt. 24:2424For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. (Matthew 24:24)
As Zion is under extreme judgment, she will be plowed like a field, suggesting the inner turmoil of the soul. The Plowman will not plow continually, but His purpose is to prepare the ground, the heart, for the seed of repentance which is necessary if there is to be any blessing in the coming kingdom.
Rev. 9:5-105And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. 6And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. 7And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. 8And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. 9And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. 10And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. (Revelation 9:5‑10) Mic. 3:1212Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest. (Micah 3:12) Isa. 28:23-2923Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech. 24Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground? 25When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place? 26For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him. 27For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod. 28Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. 29This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working. (Isaiah 28:23‑29)
There will be a humbling of position and pride at this time, with no distinctions between people and priest, servant and master, maid and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, taker of usury and giver of usury.
Famine will necessitate primitive farming, as the people of Judah resort to digging a garden with a mattock and to raising a cow or sheep in order to survive. Most difficult conditions will force man to flee from one crisis to another. It will be as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned on the wall and a serpent bit him.
Isa. 4:21-25 Amos. 5:19
Throughout the whole earth a moral and physical defilement will prevail under the inhabitants, without hope or rest in unstable private family life as well as national public life.
Isa. 24:3-123The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word. 4The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. 5The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. 6Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. 7The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh. 8The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. 9They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. 10The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in. 11There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. 12In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction. (Isaiah 24:3‑12)
From Psa. 83 we see that Edom, the Ishmaelites, Moab, the Hagarenes, Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, the Philistines, and Tire will be the nations who will join with Asshur (Assyria), the king of the north, as the confederacy which will be Jehovah's army against His people in judgment. We notice that Edom (Esau) is at the head of this list of ten nations and will promote an attack upon Judah, his brother, because of perpetual, unjudged hatred, but the great Assyrian, Gog, will be the leader behind the confederacy. There will be two major attacks upon Judah, the last one on the ten tribes also.
Meanwhile the rulers of Judah will have hidden under falsehood and will have taken refuge in the lies of their king, the antichrist. He will have set aside all principles of law and order to make wickedness a law of the land. He will speak against God and set himself up as God. He will worship a strange god with gold and silver, selling the land for gain.
But the rulers will be warned and told to hear the word of God.
The Lord will remind them that He lays in Zion a foundation stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation, who is their Messiah. He that believes will not make haste, nor will he be troubled.
The imminent overflowing scourge of the Assyrian cannot be stopped by lies nor by the covenant made with the prince of Rome, the beast. It will be called a covenant with death, with hell, perhaps because it will be one of idolatry, the worship of the beast and the antichrist to take the place of God.
Isaiah and other prophets describe impossible conditions as the people of Judah will experience the scourge or attack on their land. "Morning by morning...it shall be a vexation only to understand the report." "The bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it."
The prophet Hosea cries out, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help. I will be thy king."
"And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far?"