STAND FIRM: End Time Views - The Great Tribulation
We have one more list of end-time views to work through in this series on the different “end-time views,” but I want to stall for one more article. So far, we have looked at the four main views about the nature of prophecy and the three main views concerning the Millennial Kingdom. The final list of views concerns the rapture, but to understand those different views we need to understand the progression of the final events of this age.
I stalled last week by looking at the biblical evidence that there’s a specific final seven years at the end of this age. The key passage is Dan. 9:27, which not only says there will be a seven-year period but that it will be split in half. Though that is the only passage that specifies the seven-year mark, there are many that parallel the three-and-a-half-year periods. Jesus even references Daniel 9 in the Olivet Discourse recorded in Matthew 24. The Olivet Discourse is the sermon that followed when the disciples asked Jesus what the signs of the end of the age would be.
Jesus begins by sharing there would be a series of events called, “the beginning of the birth pains.” He went on to tell that following this period there would be birth pains starting with the abomination performed by the Antichrist as Daniel had told. Here are Jesus’ words:“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’spoken of through the prophet Daniel — let the reader understand — then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now — and never to be equaled again” (Matt. 24:15-21 NIV).
In Daniel 9, Daniel wrote that this abomination done by the Antichrist is in the middle of the final seven years. There are other passages that talk about what happens in the three and half years afterward, like Rev. 11:2 which foretells Gentiles will trample over Israel for 42 months (3.5 years) and Rev. 13:5 which tells the Antichrist (and his kingdom) will have authority and will blaspheme God for 42 months (3.5 years). Daniel foretold in Daniel 12 that the period from the abomination of desolation to the end would be 1,290 days (3.5 years). These are only a few of the references to three and a half years.
This idea of the Antichrist running roughshod over Israel at the end of the age isn’t novel to the Book of Revelation. It’s a theme of the Old Testament prophets as written in Psa. 79:1; Isa. 63:3, 18; Dan. 8:13; and Zech. 12:3.
Not only is the theme of the Antichrist and his kingdom trampling upon Israel in the final time period not new to the New Testament nor is the phrase “birth pains,” Isaiah was given the same phrase to describe the same time: “O Lord, in distress they sought you; they poured out a whispered prayer when your discipline was upon them. Like a pregnant woman who writhes and cries out in her pangs when she is near to giving birth, so were we because of you, O Lord” (Isa. 26:16-17 ESV).
This passage tells of Israel’s great difficulties before they finally turn and accept the Messiah and step into the Messianic Kingdom. This difficult time is the birth pains. Jeremiah calls these years the “time of Jacob’s trouble.” We saw Jesus call them a time of great distress. The final three and half years is the time of Jacob’s Trouble and Great Tribulation.
So, what about the first three and a half years? We often refer to them as the Tribulation and we also often make the Tribulation and “beginning of birth pains” synonymous. Though there will be a Tribulation time ahead of the Great Tribulation, it is not limited to just those first three and half years.
According to Daniel 11 and Ezekiel 38, this time seems to be a time of peace in Israel, likely made possible through the agreement with the Antichrist, but Daniel 11 also reveals the Antichrist will be at war with other nations. Daniel 8 reveals that there will be war in the rise of the Antichrist. There’s no doubt the rest of the world will face the “beginning of the birth pains” during this time, but that doesn’t mean they start at the beginning of the seven years, we’re not given a time period for when they start. We just know they immediately precede the birth pains.
Even before we get to those last seven years, Revelation 17 and 18 speak of another power rising and persecuting Christians. This entity is called “Mystery Babylon” or the “Great Harlot.”
There will be the beginning of the birth pains that includes the beginning of birth pain trials Jesus foretold, the conquest of the Antichrist’s rise and the persecution of Mystery Babylon, and this will most likely occur before the final seven years. The rise of the Antichrist, who has to be in power at the start of the final seven years, shows to bring war and upheaval to the world. Then this Mystery Babylon entity that rises before the Antichrist is said to be “drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” and all the nations are “deceived by her sorcery.”
Jake is the newest state missionary and would love to share about the work in Northwest Arkansas and encourage your church to stand firm. (standfirmministries.com)
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Jake McCandless
Jake McCandless authors a weekly column titled, Stand Firm and Live Epic, through which he seeks to encourage the modern church to not just survive, but thrive in current times. He also addresses many end-times topics.
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