No 15

(Israel and Worship)

True worship during the Great Tribulation will be distinctively Israelite. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 24:20 “…pray that your flight may not be on a Sabbath”. Only Israel is under God-given law to observe the Sabbath and Paul warned the Church in Colossians 2:16 “..let no one act as your judge in regard to…a Sabbath day” (Rom 14:5 Gal 4:10). In Exodus 35: 2,3 the Bible reads “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.” In ancient Israel, the death penalty was even inflicted on someone who wanted to prepare a meal on the Sabbath. One man was caught gathering sticks to kindle a fire to prepare a meal; well actually, he didn’t even have time to prepare the meal, he was stoned to death – Numbers 15: 32-36. No one today truly observes the Sabbath; not the Jews; not even the Seventh-Day Adventists. Therefore when Jesus spoke in the Olivet Discourse, He was referring to Israel during the Great Tribulation.

Jesus also warned Israelite believers in the Olivet Discourse that “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place” (Matt 24:15). The only true “holy place” here on earth was in the Jerusalem temple, it stands to reason that this passage refers to a rebuilt tribulation temple (we will look at this more closely in another study). Not only will there be a rebuilt temple during the Great Tribulation, but there will also be full-fledged Levitical priests to perform the animal sacrifices. As we know, when Roman armies invaded Jerusalem and destroyed the temple in 70 AD, all records of the 12 tribes of Israel were destroyed. Therefore, today no Jewish person knows from what tribe he or she descends. However, in Revelation 7:4-8, we read that 144,000 Israelites will be identified of which 12,000 will be Levites (v7). God has a plan for Israel and it will come to pass come what may.