Among the many signs of the end times, there is something in our world that never truly subsides; it only grows. However, by now, many have become so accustomed to it that they pay less and less attention, while others suffer more and more. That is antisemitism.
Imagine a crack in your basement wall, and water starts coming in. It doesn’t flood the house immediately. It begins as a stain. Then mold appears, then the concrete weakens. Then the structure shifts. And one day, you wake up, and the foundation is damaged beyond repair. Antisemitism is like that. It starts with words. Then jokes. Then stereotypes. Then accusations. Then hostility. Then violence. And society says: “It’s not that bad.” But the truth is: the foundation is already cracking. Our world is changing, slowly but surely. Despite all the talk of peace in the Middle East, Israel is becoming increasingly isolated, increasingly accused, and increasingly treated as a burden to the nations.
This is exactly what the prophet Zechariah foretold about the last days, the days preceding the soon return of Yeshua: “I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all peoples…” (Zechariah 12:3)
Let me share some recent, even surprising, statistics with you. The first report made me feel as though we were living in a pre–Nazi era. Listen to this: last week, we read that the U.S. administration is offering asylum to British Jews seeking refuge. The reason given was shocking: “The United Kingdom is no longer a safe place for Jews.” Have we reached the point where there are fewer places in the world where Jews can feel safe, as the prophets foretold? We are talking about 300,000 Jews in England.
Unfortunately, the situation across the rest of Europe is no better. A major survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) found that 96% of Jews in the EU reported experiencing at least one form of antisemitism in the past year, including harassment, insults, threats, online abuse, discrimination, and restrictions on Jewish life.
And this hatred is spreading even into places many once thought were “safe,” such as the arts and cultural world. For example, Eurovision, one of the largest international music competitions, held every May, has now become a battleground. This year, several countries have announced they will boycott the event simply because Israel will be present, including the Netherlands, Spain, Iceland, Ireland, and Slovenia. This is not limited to Europe.
In New York City, home to more than one million Jews, antisemitism continues to rise sharply. According to the NYPD, Jews were targeted in 31 hate crimes last month alone, nearly one incident per day, representing a 182% increase over the same period last year. Once again, this is a major sign of the end times, foretold by many prophets, including Jesus Himself.
In His end-time prophecies, especially as He spoke to Israel, Jesus pointed back to the words of Daniel and Joel and warned that a unique time of suffering was coming. He said: “For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will.” (Mark 13:19)
But there is another warning, one of the most striking of all, found among His final words to the seven churches in the book of Revelation. There, Yeshua speaks of those who claim to be Jews but are not, and who seek to uproot Israel from the love, calling, and promises of God. We often quote these passages because Jesus calls the place where such people gather “the synagogue of Satan” because they think they are Jewish.
But have you ever stopped to ask why this warning is repeated? Why did Jesus single out two churches, Smyrna and Philadelphia, and give them the same warning? The answer is closely connected to Israel and to the rising antisemitism in the time in history these two churches represent.
When Yeshua selected seven churches from many, His purpose was not only to reveal the spiritual condition of the churches at any given time in history but also to speak prophetically. Each church represents a distinct stage, a stepping stone, in the unfolding history of the past 2,000 years.
Looking both backward and forward, Smyrna and Philadelphia stand out as periods of significant movement in Israel’s history. Smyrna represents the era roughly between 100 and 315 AD, a time when antisemitism intensified throughout the Roman Empire. Twice, the Jews were asked to leave Rome, in 19 AD under Tiberius and in 49 AD under Claudius. The first date, 19 AD, was when Yeshua was about 25 years old. He knew of antisemitism. The second, 49 AD, was during the period of the New Testament writings. This hostility reached a climax with Constantine’s edict, which united religion and the state. During this period, while the Jewish people endured severe persecution worldwide, Messianic Jews were increasingly expelled from the Church. At this point, the two main groups of Jewish believers, the Nazarenes and the Ebionites, gradually disappeared from church history.
This situation continued until the rise of the Philadelphia church, which corresponds to the period from roughly 1800 to the present. This era witnessed two remarkable developments: the return of the Jewish people to their land in 1948 and a renewed turning of many Jewish people to faith in Yeshua. As a result, Jewish believers began to reappear within the Church of God. Yet, like Smyrna, we see rising antisemitism in the world and in the church, in the form of anti-Jewish theology. However, silence from today’s church speaks volumes. This should come as no surprise, as we are currently between Philadelphia and Laodicea, the church of the Tribulation, which is no church at all, for it is completely rejected by Yeshua.
But I share these statistics and prophecies to remind us never to forget our responsibility as Bible believers: to pray for Israel, to show them love, and above all, to pray that many will come to a saving knowledge of their Savior, Yeshua HaMashiach.
Click here for the Video: Israel and the Nations – Antisemitism