Jeremiah describes the regathering of Israel as a “travail.”

“For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah…and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers…they shall possess it…For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? 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. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of Hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them. Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.” (Jeremiah 30:3-11)

Haifa, Palestine. 1948 – Jewish immigrants, arriving in Haifa aboard
a refugee ship, waving future flag of the state of Israel shortly before its official
conception. LIFE Magazine. Photo by Dmitri Kessel

Though Israel is regathered and re-established in troublous times, Israel is the only nation that is promised survival at the end of the Age! Though the process of regathering is painful—nevertheless only Israel is called by God, “My People” and the Land of Israel, “My Land.” (Isaiah 11:11,12; Ezekiel 38:16; Joel 3:2) Why so painful? Why so much travail? Israel still has to learn not to depend upon supposed allies who only seem to support her. Again, Jeremiah called such allies “lovers” who will forget Israel. “All thy lovers have forgotten thee. (Jeremiah 30:14)

While the whole world will struggle with the End Times “travail” of trouble, the result will be the disintegration of all the world’s nation states.

“For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” (1 Thessalonians 5:2,3)

By contrast, Israel alone will continue to benefit from the lessons and corrections during her travail in order to be prepared for her role in the Messianic Kingdom. Israel will survive the End Times and enter into Christ’s Kingdom as the earthly seed of Abraham— the “sand…upon the sea shore”! (Genesis 22:17)