One of many Biblical prophecies that the Churches of God believe is yet to be fulfilled is found in Jeremiah chapter 30 and referred to as "Jacob's trouble" in verse seven.

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This prophecy needs to be understood in context. The chapters leading up to it speak of the time of the Babylonian captivity, a punishment inflicted by God on the nation of Judah. In Jeremiah 29:10-14 the Jews are told that after 70 years in Babylon they will be brought back to Jerusalem. When we read the account of this in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, we see that indeed a remnant of the Jews came back. However, the majority either stayed in Babylon or became dispersed among the nations.

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The 70 year exile in Babylon was in actual fact the commencement of a much longer period of punishment of the Jews spoken about in Leviticus 26:24, that would last for "seven times", or 2520 years. This included persecution both by the nations that occupied the Holy Land and the nations to which the Jews had been scattered.

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The Scriptures tell us a great deal about this time of punishment of the nation of Judah, so we should expect that God would also predict events that would occur when this period was about to end.

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I believe that one place God does this is in Jeremiah 30:4-17.

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World War 2 was one of the most pivotal turning points in history. It is astonishing that it is rarely mentioned in the Churches of God in relation to prophecy, especially since all the tribes of Israel were involved in this greatest of all wars.

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The Holocaust is sometimes mentioned, but no one seems to wonder why Satan was so determined to destroy the Jews at that particular moment in history, and why he put up such an enormous fight, using some of the most demonic leaders ever witnessed on the world stage. Clearly he wanted to prevent the prophecies of God from being fulfilled.

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Jeremiah 29 is specifically about the House of Judah, whereas Jeremiah 30 is about "Israel and Judah" (verse 4).

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Jeremiah 30:7 says: "Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it". The patriarch Israel's original name was Jacob. He was the father of all the tribes of Israel, so this prophecy involves all of physical Israel.

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Verse 8 adds: "I will break the yoke off their necks" (NIV) and "Foreigners shall no more enslave them".

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This cannot be speaking about the Jews' return from Babylon, because more national enslavement of the Jews followed after that. This can only be speaking about the aftermath of the "seven times", or 2520 years. The chart on the "HOME" page shows that this period ran from 3395AM, when Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar first conquered Jerusalem, until 5914AM, when WW2 ended, which equates to 575BC until 1945AD.

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Indeed, no Israelite nation has been conquered or enslaved since 1945. World War 2, however, saw the enslavement of millions of Israelites. Those familiar with the British Israel theory know that Great Britain and the USA are descended from Joseph, one of the sons of Israel. The descendants of Israel's other sons are mainly found in democracies such as France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland and, of course, Israel. The first five countries listed here were conquered by Germany in WW2 and became subject to their tyranny.

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The combined number of WW2 casualties, both military and civilian, among the descendants of Israel, was approximately 8 million. This number includes about 6 million Jews, most of whom were liquidated in extermination camps after being rounded up in all the countries that Germany conquered. Those deemed fit were put to forced labour and deliberately worked to death. The less fit were murdered immediately, using gas chambers, shooting, or other methods.

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As well as attempting to annihilate the Jewish populations in occupied countries, the Germans also implemented a policy of rounding up non-Jewish men and boys, transporting them to Germany, and putting them to work in industries considered essential to the war effort. As well as large numbers that were taken from Eastern European nations, around two million of these slaves were abducted from the Israelite countries Germany had conquered, and many of them died under the harsh treatment and conditions.

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In addition, hundreds of thousands of captured soldiers from Israelite countries were confined to squalid prisoner of war camps, often as slave labourers, with many of these also dying from overwork, malnutrition, disease and barbaric treatment.

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The Wikipedia article on this subject is very insightful, as well as sobering:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_labour_under_German_rule_during_World_War_II

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​In 1945, exactly 2520 years after Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians, World War 2 came to an end. The surviving prisoners were then liberated and allowed to return to their home countries. To read about the Jews' prophesied return to the land of Israel, please see the page "THE TWO WITNESSES".

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​​Jeremiah 30:9 speaks of these people worshipping the true God, and of "David" (the Son of David, i.e. Christ) being their king. We might be inclined to see this as an event that is only in the future, but Acts 2 sheds some light on the subject.

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The apostle Peter, speaking on the Day of Pentecost, states in Acts 2:16-18 that the phenomenon of people speaking in tongues was a fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel 2:28-29. Joel says that God would pour out His spirit on "all flesh", or "all people". However, the "all flesh" that was spoken about amounted to only a few thousand people on that day. Clearly this needs to be understood in light of Acts 5:32, which tells us that God gives His holy spirit to "those that obey Him". Therefore, the "all flesh" who received the holy spirit were all those who obeyed Him.

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If we view Jer 30:9 in the same way, the meaning becomes clearer. All the Israelite nations had Sabbath keeping Christians amongst them who worshipped the true God. These greatly increased in number after WW2. Similarly the Jews, upon returning to the Holy Land after WW2, witnessed the development of the Messianic movement, i.e. Jews accepting Christ as the Messiah. Therefore all the Israelite nations contained some people who "keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus" (Rev 12:17), even though their numbers were very small in comparison with the overall population.

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​​It is evident therefore that Jeremiah chapter 29 refers to the return of the exiles from Babylon near the beginning of Judah's 2520 years of punishment, while chapter 30 refers to the WW2 period and the subsequent return of all enslaved Israelites to their respective countries, including the Jews to the Holy Land, at the end of the 2520 year period. It is the WW2 period, including the Holocaust, that is referred to as "Jacob's trouble". In the Olivet Prophecy Christ refers to the return of the Jews to their homeland after WW2 as "the time of the Gentiles are fulfilled" (Lk 21:24). See the page "THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES" for more on this.  

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Am I alone in interpreting "Jacob's trouble" this way? Definitely not. Below is a link to an article that also claims this prophecy was fulfilled during the WW2 time period, but applies it to the Jews only, and not to the other tribes of Israel. Although I don't agree with all the content of this article, I point to it to show that the belief that "Jacob's trouble" is still in the future is not shared by all:

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https://www.ifi.org.il/en/teachings/jacobs-trouble-past-or-future

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In conclusion, I believe a strong case can be made that the prophecy of "Jacob's trouble" in Jeremiah 30:7 was fulfilled in the 20th century.

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