Beginning at sunset today (Saturday, July 25, 2015) Jews around the world will commemorate Tishah B’Av, the saddest day on the Hebrew calendar.  This annual day of mourning recalls the tragedies experienced by the Jewish people over the centuries, many of them on this very day.  Here are some examples of tragedy on Tishah B’Av:

• The Lord decreed that the original generation rescued from Egypt would die out before entering the Promised Land because of the unbelief of the spies who returned from the Promised Land stating it was impossible to conquer it (after God had commanded them to do so).  (Numbers 13-14)
• The Babylonians destroyed the First Temple in 586 BC.
• The Romans destroyed the Second Temple in 70 AD.
• The Roman emperor Hadrian crushed the Bar Kochba Revolt in 135 AD, killing 500,000 Jews at Betar.
• The Roman commander Turnus Rufus plowed over the Temple area and all Jerusalem homes, also in 135 AD.
• Jews were expelled from England in 1290.
• Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492.

Though typically jovial, fun-loving people, the Jews enter a 25-hour fast on Tishah B’Av where bathing, eating, drinking, adorning one’s self or laughing are prohibited.  It is indeed a day of mourning.

Interestingly, Tishah B’Av falls two months after Shavuot (celebration of God’s redemption of the Jews and the giving of the Law to Moses), and two months before Yom Kippur (a period of repentance).  So, follow me here…

Just two months after celebrating God’s revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai (to which the Jews consider perhaps the most important day in their history), they mourn the destruction of the Temple and their long exile.  Yet, only two months later, the national celebration of atonement and restoration (Yom Kippur) are celebrated.  There is prophetic significance to this!

Shavuot, which we (as Christians) celebrate as Passover, is about the ascension of Jesus and the giving of the Holy Spirit.  Tishah B’Av is a picture of the Church Age (the “age of grace”) given to Gentiles.  It is our time of entry into salvation!  At the expense of the Jews?  No, but certainly as a picture of God’s justice and grace.  In justice, God brought tragedy upon Israel due to their disobedience.  In grace, He opened up a way of salvation to Gentiles!  But remember, He is not done with His people!  He will save them.  That is what Yom Kippur is all about!  At the end of the age, Israel will accept Yeshua (Jesus) as their Great High Priest of the New Covenant!  (Jeremiah 31:27-37)

So, we mourn with Israel over her tragedies, but we praise the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for making a way that we, as Gentiles, might enter into salvation!  Indeed, we’re living in an age of Tishah B’Av right now.  The Holy Spirit has come, the Jews have rejected their Messiah (while a way of salvation is brought to Gentiles), and one day soon God will redeem and restore His chosen people!  May Tishah B’Av pass quickly and the full restoration of the Jewish people happen soon!