Jeremiah 30:7

That day is great. Primarily, the prophet sees here the distress that will soon be brought upon Jerusalem and Judea by the Babylonians under their great conqueror, Nebuchadnezzar (see 2 Kings 25; 2 Chron. 36:17-21). When applied to the time of the end, “that day” looks forward to the great day of the Lord at the end of this present world’s history. Of that event the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and by the Romans was “but a faint shadow” (GC 36; see on Jer. 30:5; Joel 1:15).

The time of Jacob’s trouble. The LXX reads “a time of straitness to Jacob.”

Jeremiah illustrates the intensity of the experience that was to come to Israel (see on v. 6) by a comparison with the experience of Jacob when he wrestled with the Angel (see on Gen. 32:24-26). Jacob was threatened by an angry brother ready to kill in revenge for past wrongs. To prepare for the crisis, Jacob tarried to spend the night in prayer. The burden of his heart was that everything should be right with God. As far as he could, Jacob had endeavored to right every wrong that he had committed. By his persistence and faith, Jacob was given the assurance of God’s blessing before the night had passed. In looking forward to the experience of the children of Jacob, Jeremiah shows that, at the time of the Babylonian invasion (see on Jer. 34:7), they would pass through an agony similar to that of their ancestor. But with the prophecy of such great “trouble” the prophet coupled an assurance to every faithful soul that “he shall be saved out of it.”

This same experience of intense soul searching will come to spiritual Israel after the close of probation, just before the Lord’s second advent. Only those who have confessed every known sin will be able to come forth victors from that time of spiritual agony known as the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (see GC 616-623).