Sounding the Seventh Trumpet

By Lyn Pickering

Amid the Covid-19 lockdowns, the precarious nature of the global economy, the failure of businesses, and the possibility of food shortages, the church is experiencing a surge of excitement. Those churches that still preach the last days are speculating once again on the imminence of the Rapture. Jesus said He would come at a time we least expect (Matt 24:44).  Almost without exception, the church expects the Rapture to take place at the outset of the Tribulation. What if the modern-day Church has got it wrong?

"Let no man deceive you!" Paul urged in his second letter to the Thessalonians. He reminded them that before the coming of the Day of the Lord, two signs would be witnessed by the church, first - a falling away of believers, and secondly - that the Son of Perdition, the Antichrist, would be revealed as he stepped into Jerusalem's temple and proclaimed himself God. (2 Thess 2:3,4)

 In I Corinthians 15:51,52, Paul declares a mystery. We will not all 'sleep' (die) but we shall all be changed "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump". It suggests the obvious: if the seventh angel sounds his trumpet at the last of the trumpet judgments, this should be the starting point of our search (Rev 11:15-19).

The Seventh Trumpet is vitally important reading for this time. I have yet to discover another book that focuses on the powerful events of Revelation's midpoint. What if you are unprepared for the turbulent days to come? The Bible promises betrayals, persecutions, hardships, deprivations, and sorrows. Will you be among the disillusioned that fall by the wayside? Or, keeping your eyes firmly on Jesus Christ, your all-sufficient Lord, will you stand and withstand until that final moment of glory when Christ calls His Bride home?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lyn Pickering
• Release date: Aug 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781393670230

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© Lyn J Pickering 2021

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted without the permission of the Copyright owner.

ISBN 979 8 643 99539 5

Forest of Lebanon Publications

Cover design by Jordan Pickering

Email: [e-mail]

To Bill

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

Revelation 22:1

My primary source of study and scripture reference was the King James Version, but I have replaced it with the New King James Version where I felt extra clarity may be needed.

SOUNDING THE SEVENTH TRUMPET

CHAPTER 1

Prophecy Fulfilled

ACROSS THE FULL BREADTH of earth’s history, one momentous occurrence stands out above all others - the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.  Nothing else could eclipse that moment in which the salvation from sin of all mankind was made possible.  The seventh trumpet is overshadowed by the cross of Christ alone.  The full impact of the events that lie just ahead is beyond any of us to grasp, but the world is certainly about to witness the second most remarkable fulfillment of prophecy, which will bring a climactic ending to this era.

Until very recently, the fulfillment of certain Biblical prophecies hardly seemed feasible and were allegorized in a human attempt to retain the integrity of scripture.  Many advances, both scientific and political, have taken place since 1948, when the miraculous happened and Israel became a nation in a day (Isa 66:8), rendering the impossible possible. 

Fifty years ago, the notion that the world might become united under a single government, with a world leader at the helm, would have been considered ludicrous.  Now we are seeing the drawing together of world bodies in every sphere and we speak of a New World Order almost as though it is an established fact.

A hundred years ago, no one could have foreseen a way in which the death of the Two Witnesses of Revelation could be seen throughout the world; today, satellite television makes that a simple matter.

Could we have conceived of the probability of what the Bible terms the mark of the beast before the advent of computers (Rev 13:16)?  Yet now we see almost every product throughout the world, bar-coded; domestic animals are micro-chipped daily, and similar experimentation is being carried out on human beings.  Computer banking unites the whole process, and the concept of an implanted computer chip in the right hand is seen as a natural extension of the Smart Card.

Snatching Away

In the 1740s, Morgan Edwards acknowledged as the leading Baptist historian of his day, put forth an argument for a mid-Tribulation viewpoint in his eschatological writings.  Born in Wales, Edwards preached at churches in England and Ireland before emigrating to the United States in 1761.  He became the pastor of a church in Philadelphia and later founded Brown University.  Edwards believed the Rapture would occur in the middle of Daniel’s 70th week, about 3 1/2 years before the Second Coming.  Before this, the overriding belief was pre-millennialist—the belief that the Rapture would take place at the Second Coming but was a separate event.

The more modern pre-Tribulation view, although not conceived by John Darby (1800-1882) was widely taught by him and strongly supported by the American theologian CI Scofield (1843 - 1921). 

Darby was born in London and practiced law briefly before going into full-time ministry in the Church of Ireland.  He and other dissenters later broke away, and Darby was instrumental in founding the Plymouth Brethren.  John Darby’s more comforting concept of the pre-tribulation Rapture captured the imagination of Christians and spread rapidly.  The Scofield Study Bible further developed the argument, while a best-selling book by William E Blackstone, Jesus is Coming, (1878) flung the concept out to the wider church.

The Late Great Planet Earth published in 1970 by Hal Lindsey ran with the pre-Trib concept and Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins’ Left Behind series was a block-buster.  As the Christian Church entered the 21st Century, if the end times were preached at all, it was generally the notion of a pre-Tribulation Rapture that won acceptance.

But what if it is wrong?  What if there is a compelling argument for a different conclusion?  Where would it leave those who fully expect to be swept away at the start of the last seven years of this era?  Would they be able to stand under the massive wave of persecution that is certain to take place?  Or would they even find themselves deceived into believing that the Antichrist is what he claims to be—the Christ?  Why do we choose to believe the exhortations and warnings of Jesus in Matt 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 are to the Jews only and not to His Church when we accept every other part of the Gospel is addressed to all believers?  When Jesus spoke of the turbulent times ahead He urged his disciples not to allow themselves to be deceived. Is it possible that we have allowed ourselves to succumb to the deception of the enemy? 

Deed of Sale

The prophet Jeremiah was imprisoned by Zedekiah, king of Judah, for prophesying the coming capture of Jerusalem by the besieging army of Babylon.  Soon, the prophet knew that life would be radically changed for those in Judaea, and most of his generation would never see their homeland again.  God chose that moment in time to forewarn Jeremiah that a relative would be paying him a visit with a strange request.  Hanameel, the son of Shallum, Jeremiah’s uncle, wanted him to purchase a field in Anathoth in Benjamin.  It was Jeremiah’s right of inheritance and he was the family member chosen to redeem the land.  Knowing that God had moved him to accept the offer, the prophet paid the price of seventeen shekels of silver and received the evidence of purchase.

According to the law and custom of the time, two scrolls were drawn up.  The one remained open, while the second was sealed with seven seals in the presence of witnesses.  The word of the Lord came again to Jeremiah.

Take these evidences of your purchase, God said, both the sealed and the open scroll, and place them in an earthen vessel for safekeeping.  It may seem that the coming disaster, which is about to befall Judah, is the end of everything, but fields, houses, and vineyards will again be possessed in this land.

In other words, Jeremiah’s purchase stood as the Lord’s guarantee that Judah would not be lost forever, but once the seventy years of captivity in Babylon were accomplished, there would be a return to the land (Jer 29:10).

In this chapter lies a clue as to how the Lord God of Israel, Isaac, and Jacob will accomplish His purposes in the last days.  Before Jesus Christ can legally reclaim the kingdoms of this world, there is a procedure that must be followed.  The death of Jesus on the cross was the document in His blood that the world, currently under Satan’s control, had been purchased and would be redeemed in God’s time.  The evidence of the purchase was placed in weak earthen vessels, Christ’s followers here on earth. 

In accordance with the word of God through Jeremiah, Judah was besieged and the people were taken into captivity. Seventy years later, the prophet Daniel, who was among those exiled in Babylon, interceded for the Jewish exiles, reminding God of his promise that they would be returned to their land.

While on the bank of the River Hiddekel, known today as the Tigris, Daniel received a vision, the power of which caused him to fall on his face in a swoon.  Like the vision of Christ, received by John in Revelation, this certain man (Dan 10:5,6) was clothed in linen and girded in fine gold.  His body was like beryl and his face had the appearance of lightning.  His eyes were as lamps of fire; while his arms and feet appeared like polished brass and his voice was like the voice of a multitude.  Daniel’s companions saw nothing of the vision but fled in fear and hid themselves leaving him alone.  A hand touched Daniel and raised him onto his hands and feet and the powerful voice spoke again encouraging the prophet to stand.  For twenty-one days, a battle had taken place in the heavens, he was told.  An effort had been made to prevent Daniel from receiving the answer to his prayer but the Archangel Michael had rallied to the side of this certain man and fought with Him, and together He and the mighty archangel had overcome the Prince of Persia (Dan 10:12,13).

Daniel was God’s chosen vessel to receive a detailed prophecy of events pertaining to Israel—events that would include the coming of Messiah and the last seven years before His final return.

Daniel asked the man for the time in which all things would be accomplished.  When would be an end of the wonders he had seen in his dreams and visions (Dan 12:6)?  The man clothed in linen raised his right hand to heaven and sware by Him that liveth forever that it should be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, then all these things shall be finished (Dan 12:7).  Daniel failed to understand and was told:

And he said, "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. (Dan 12:9)

We are on the cusp preceding the time, times and an half of which the one in the vision spoke.  Jesus Christ will, in that first three-and-a-half prophetic years, each comprised of 360 days, legally open the seven seals.  I am convinced that many believers will be privileged to become part of a cloud of witnesses to the events leading up to the opening of the final seal when the kingdoms are reclaimed by our Lord Jesus Christ.  However, a high price will be exacted from those chosen to remain on earth in those days, because during the 1,260 days, there is one who is destined to scatter the power of the holy people.  Christian believers will share in the sufferings of their Lord as He moulds them in the furnace of affliction into the Church that really is without spot or wrinkle.

Gideon v Midian

The story of Gideon’s army is a significant introduction to the theme of the Tribulation.  Israel’s continued transgressions of God’s Law had held them in bondage to the Midianite nation for seven long years.  On the night in which Gideon was visited by an angel who called him to deliver Israel, he was threshing his wheat in the winepress to hide it from the oppressors.  Although Gideon had probably lived in fear of the enemy until this point, the angel called him a man of valour.  Yet even the felling of his father’s statue of Baal and the grove planted next to it was done under cover of darkness for fear of his father’s wrath.  Faced with death at the hands of the mob for this act of destruction of a false god, Gideon found an unexpected source of support in his father who rescued him from his predicament.

If Baal couldn’t protect himself from a man, his father argued, surely he’s not much of a god?  And instead of rebuke, he gave Gideon the nickname of Jerubaal, let Baal plead. 

It may have been this unexpected affirmation from his father that encouraged Gideon to act on the prophetic utterance of the angelic being for when the Midianites and Amalekites encamped together against Israel, he blew the trumpet and called the men of Israel to battle against them (Judges 6).

As the people rallied to Gideon’s side, God spoke to him again.

There are too many people with you, He said.  If I give the Midianites into your hand, the people might vaunt themselves against Me and claim that their own hand has saved them.  Whoever is afraid of the battle, He told Gideon, let them go home.

Twenty-two thousand men left Mount Gilead and ten thousand remained.

There are still too many, the Lord said again. Let them go down to the water and drink and those that I tell you not to take must leave.

Gideon, under the Lord’s instruction, had already weeded out the fearful, but the army was still too large for the battle the Lord envisaged; He knew they would attribute victory to their own strength.  So the men went down to the water and just three hundred men, those that brought the water up to their mouths, were chosen over those who bent down to drink. 

Those who drank with their faces to the water were to be sent back to their tents.  They would have a part to play in the pursuit of the Midianites, but they would not be sent out into battle. The men who brought the water up to their faces and lapped were those who remained on watch and this, I believe, is the sort of army that God is looking for today.

The Enemy Camp

Arise, the Lord said to Gideon, go down to the host of the Midianites, for I have delivered them into your hand.  But if you are afraid to go, take your servant down to the army and hear what they have to say.

It would have been difficult not to fear, knowing that his little unarmed band was about to set themselves against a massive well-equipped horde, so Gideon did as God had said and slipped down by night to the edge of the encampment.  There, one soldier was relating a dream to another.

I dreamt that a cake of barley bread tumbled down into the host of Midian, he was saying.  It hit a tent and knocked it flat.

The friend looked at him with trepidation, That’s the sword of Gideon, son of Joash, the Israelite, he said without hesitation.  I believe it means that God’s delivered this entire army of Midian into his hand!

Gideon returned to his band of men full of confidence that God would do exactly as He had said.  He divided the men into three companies and gave them each a trumpet, an empty pitcher, and a torch.

Put the torch in your earthen vessel and when we get to the outskirts of the camp, do just what I do, he said. 

They had just set the beginning of the middle watch when Gideon and his hundred men reached the edge of the Midianite camp. They held their lamps in their left hands and blew their trumpets with their right and shouted, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!  And then they stood their ground.

Faced with the noise of the trumpet blasts and shouts of Gideon’s little army, the host of Midian grabbed their weapons and left their tents.  They were blinded by the lights of the torches and confused by the noise.  For all they knew, every light and trumpet constituted a battalion.  Again the three hundred sounded their trumpets and watched as the Midianite army turned their swords on one another in their panic.  Many thousands fell that night and the remainder fled in terror.  A little, ineffectual group of men had stood in faith using only the weapons with which the Lord had provided them.  Indeed, a barley cake had rolled into the camp of the Midianites and flattened a tent!

In 2 Corinthians 4:6,7 we see how Paul used the clay pots in the story of Gideon as a metaphor to describe himself and all believers:

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 2 Cor 4:6,7

The light shining, as if through a broken vessel, is the power of the living Christ which shone through Paul’s weak human frame and shines through ours.  The cross is the only route for the true child of God.

In these last days, I can say with confidence that the lights in the broken vessels of the true church of Jesus Christ are going to cause panic in a world hardened by sin.  Every believer in Christ, standing under persecution, and perhaps facing death for what he knows is the truth, will act as a sign of certain judgment to those who are living in darkness.

Time to Choose

God is looking for soldiers, not pew-warmers, and this is a great time to learn the art of warfare.  Among those believers who will be sent back to their tents when tribulation begins are many who are unprepared to face the battle to come.  These are like the wheat choked by weeds in Jesus’ parable.

Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.  Luke 8:14

The Lord is seeking fruit-bearers, those who abide in Jesus Christ, the vine (John 15:1-8).  Striving produces nothing but conflict.  Abiding in Him in every circumstance produces a rich harvest of peace, love, and righteous living.  However, abiding, or resting in Jesus, is something individually and painfully grasped as we seek to obey His word and follow Him.  It is generally learned through the fruitlessness of striving, the torment of fear, and the anguish of disobedience.  As God’s quiet discipline highlights the pointlessness of doing things in our own strength, we begin to let go and allow His Spirit to work through us.  It has been depicted as that instant when an aircraft speeds down the runway for take-off, that the law of aerodynamics defies and breaks free from the law of gravity.  So it is with the law of the Spirit when it is allowed to overcome the law of the flesh (Rom 8:2-8).

Those Israelites sent back to their tents when the final three hundred men were chosen were, I believe, still precious vessels in God’s sight.  That which hindered them from participating in the battle against the Midianites was firstly fear and, secondly, blindness.  The church is full of people who love Jesus and seek him fervently yet remain oblivious to the events taking place around them.  This renders them wide open to deception.

Far deeper blindness is that of the false apostles and prophets who are twisting the Word of God and misleading the sheep.  Because they love not the truth God sends a strong delusion upon them and they become oblivious to the fast-approaching judgment (2 Thes 10,11).

The Bible shows us clearly that during these last days, many will give their lives for their faith.  Jesus Himself told us that if we are His disciples we can expect to be treated as He was.

"If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 

Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.   John 15:18-20

In many countries throughout the world, persecution and martyrdom are occurring daily.  We, in the Western church, however, have grown complacent and there are few Christians who imagine that it could happen to us or our children.  A walk through the scriptures demonstrates that persecution and martyrdom will take place on a massive scale at the time of the end and that every Christian will soon be forced to nail his colours to the mast.  Joshua put it this way when he spoke on behalf of God to the tribes of Israel who had gained their promised land and were preparing to settle down:

I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’

"Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of [a]the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! 

And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of [b]the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."   Josh 24:13-15

Joshua spoke these words out of sheer frustration with the children of Israel.  Despite their protestations that they would indeed serve the Lord, he had recognised the seed of their ultimate destruction; their fervour would be short-lived. 

Only true followers of Jesus, who have been honed by hardship, will be prepared to head down into the enemy camp and will dare to show the light of Jesus through the brokenness of their earthly vessels.  They will speak the words that the Lord gives them to speak and not look to their own wisdom when they come before the authorities or into the hands of the mob.  By their willingness to lay down their lives and the power that Almighty God will give them, they will sound the trumpet of impending judgment to those into whose hands they will fall.  And, having done all, they will stand (Eph 6:10-13).  The final routing of the army is in God’s hands.  It will not be up to the saints to pursue.

SOUNDING THE SEVENTH TRUMPET

CHAPTER 2

Time of Jacob’s Trouble

Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.    Jer 30:7

IN THE ABOVE PASSAGE, when Jeremiah the prophet spoke of the time of Jacob’s trouble, he prophesied primarily concerning the coming of the Babylonian army but the Jews refused to heed his words.  Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, was used by God to discipline his backsliding people and bring them to a fresh revelation of their sin—God would punish, Jeremiah said, but He would also restore.  Many would fall by the sword if they refused to surrender to the Babylonians; some would perish from famine as Jerusalem came under siege and still others would be taken into exile.  Those exiled would make their home in Babylon for seventy years before the Lord God would allow them to return to their land.

That this was also a gap prophecy can be established if one refers to the context of the passage for it goes on to promise that on their return Judah would no longer be in service to strangers, but they would serve the Lord their God and David their king whom I will raise up unto them (Jer 30:9).

No king from the line of David has ascended to the throne of Jerusalem since Zedekiah had his eyes put out by the Babylonians and was taken into captivity.  And neither is the following verse yet fulfilled in all its aspects.

'Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob,' says the LORD, 'Nor be dismayed, O Israel; For behold, I will save you from afar, And your seed from the land of their captivity.

Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet, And no one shall make him afraid.

Jer 30:10,11

Jacob (Judaea) knew no peace after the first return, and neither after the second dispersion, which took place in AD 7. Since Israel became a nation again in 1948 there has been absolutely no peace or safety in the land of Israel.  We can therefore be certain that, while the prophecy has been accurately, but partially, fulfilled in two returns; it is yet to be brought to full fruition.

The prophesied seven-year Tribulation period is commonly known as Jacob’s Trouble in recognition of a time of future distress for the land of Israel, but while discipline is certain, so is a mighty promise of redemption.

Israel Rejected by God?

While Jeremiah the prophet focused on the coming Assyrian judgment of Israel and Judah, he also recorded the gentle promises of redemption by a God who loved this wayward nation and remained in covenant with them.

"Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  Jer 31:31-33

The Mosaic Law was a schoolmaster designed to bring a nation to the recognition of their sin but it could not save anyone.  God knew that He could, through the application of rules and regulations, keep a man following Him by a system of reward and retribution, but the perfection of the Law and the total inability of any human being to keep it could only cause deep-seated frustration.

Israel was designed as a nation that would carry and preserve the scriptures until, in the fullness of time, a true King would come to lead them into a new relationship with God.  The complete fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy was a long way off and would be preceded by the seven years of Jacob’s trouble. 

When God sent His Son, the religious leadership of Judah rejected Him and sentenced Him to death.  His perfection repelled them.  They feared He would provoke the Romans to take action against the Jewish nation and they feared the change Jesus would bring to the establishment of which they were a part.  Jesus Christ not only exposed their sin but also the error of their religiosity.  That, they could not countenance!

The Lord God of Israel, Isaac, and Jacob, is the same God who has chosen the Gentiles and called them by name.  The propensity of a large portion of the church to suggest that God has abandoned Israel and that the church has become the new Israel, has forgotten the character and nature of our Heavenly Father.  God hates divorce.  And should He countenance desertion of the Jewish nation to which He declared Himself betrothed, we, the church, should be very afraid.  Any abandonment of Israel would inevitably cast doubt upon our salvation.

Scripture itself is very clear on God’s position.  In Jeremiah 31, the chapter on the New Covenant quoted above, He makes an irrevocable statement prefixed by ‘Thus saith the Lord.’ 

I gave the sun for a light by day and the moon and the stars for a light by night, He says.  And I, the Lord of hosts parted the roaring sea.  When these ordinances depart from me, then Israel will also cease from being a nation before me forever.

In case there was any remaining doubt, He added: If the heaven above can be measured, or if anyone can search out the foundations of the earth, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done (Jer 31:35-37).

Neither the nation nor the seed of Israel will ever cease from being in the unique relationship in which the Almighty God has placed them—that is unless there is someone out there who can measure the heavens.  Why is it then that we are so arrogant as to state the opposite?  Do we hold onto some sort of latent anti-Semitism, or do we simply choose not to believe scripture?

In case we are only prepared to accept the New Testament, Romans 11 puts it just as succinctly: Paul made it clear that although some of the original branches of the olive tree were broken off, the Gentiles, a wild olive tree, were grafted among them, becoming partakers of its root and fatness.  In this context, it is obvious that the olive tree Paul is speaking about is Israel.  He goes on to say, Boast not against the branches.  Do not make it a matter of pride that part of Israel has been set aside for your sake because you do not bear the root, but the root thee.  He goes on to say, because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee (Rom 11:17-21).

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

"The Deliverer will come out of Zion,  And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;

For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins."

Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Rom 11:25-29 (Emphasis added)

Our Father NEVER breaks a covenant instituted in His name.  The church is on dangerous ground when she fails to recognise her brotherhood with Judah and begins to pass judgment on Israel.  Without a doubt, her arrogance will bring judgment upon her own head!

Israel Redeemed

Isaiah 54 reads like a love song of Israel’s redemption.  The Lord speaks to his desolate wife who, like Rachel, appears to be barren.  Enlarge the place of your tent He tells her, you will break forth on the right hand and the left, and your seed will inherit the Gentiles.  The time is coming when you will no longer be ashamed, you will forget the shame of your youth and the reproach of your widowhood, for your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name, and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth.

You were like a woman forsaken and grieved in your spirit and a young wife who was refused, He tells them.  Then the Almighty God of heaven and earth speaks to Israel as a gentle husband to a broken and rejected wife.

For a small moment I have forsaken you, but I will gather you with great mercies.  In a little wrath, I hid my face from you; but I will have mercy on you with everlasting kindness.

He describes a time of wrath similar to the deluge that swamped the earth in the time of Noah.  "I swore then that the waters would never again destroy the earth.  In the