What The Bible Says About The Tribulation

(Text: Selected Scriptures)
By: Barry L. Cameron


* There are numerous passages that deal with the Tribulation. Among them are: Deuteronomy 4:30-31; Isaiah 2:19; Isaiah 24:1,3,6; 26:20-21; Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 9:27; Daniel 12:1; Joel 1:15; Joel 2:1-2; Amos 5:18-20; Zephaniah 1:14-15, 18; Matthew 24:21-22; Luke 21: 25-26; I Thessalonians 5:3; Revelation 3:10; 6:15-17.

* From these Scriptures it is obvious that the NATURE or CHARACTER of this period is a time of WRATH (Zephaniah 1:15, 18; I Thessalonians 1:10; 5:9; Revelation 6:16-17), JUDGMENT (Revelation 14:7; 15:4; 16:5, 7; 19:2; INDIGNATION (Isaiah 26:20-21; 34:1-3), TRIAL (Revelation 3:10), TROUBLE (Jeremiah 30:7; Zephaniah 1:14-15; Daniel 12:1), DESTRUCTION (Joel 1:15; I Thessalonians 5:3), DARKNESS (Joel 2:2; Amos 5:18; Zephaniah 1:14-18), DESOLATION (Daniel 9:27; Zephaniah 1:14-15), OVERTURNING (Isaiah 24:1-4; 19-21), and PUNISHMENT (Isaiah 24:20-21).

What Is The Source Of The TRIBULATION?
* This period of time is when God ’s wrath and judgment fall upon the earth. This is not wrath from men, or from Satan, except as God may use these agents or agencies as channels for the execution of His will.
* The SOURCE of the TRIBULATION is GOD!

What Is The Purpose Of The TRIBULATION?
(1) The first great purpose of the Tribulation is to prepare the nation of Israel for her Messiah.
- God’s purpose for Israel, during the TRIBULATION, is to bring about the conversion of a multitude of Jews, who will enter into the blessings of the Kingdom and experience the fulfillment of all of Israel’s covenants.
- Ezekiel 20:33-38. It will be a time of judgment for those who do not believe, and a time of salvation for those who do believe.
- Matthew 24:14. The good news that the King is about to return will be preached.

* It is also God’s purpose to populate the millennial Kingdom with a multitude of saved Gentiles, who are redeemed through the preaching of the believing remnant (Revelation 7:9)

Who Are The Great Multitude In White Robes? (Revelation 7:9)
* Verse 14. These are the Gentiles who are saved during the TRIBULATION because of the believing remnant.
* They are martyred for their faith and are translated to Heaven (Revelation 7:16-17)

Who Are The 144,000? (Revelation 7)
* Before the antichrist can destroy God’s covenant nation once and for all, the Lord will seal with invincibility a believing remnant of 12,000 literal descendants of Abraham from each of the 12 tribes of the sons of Jacob, to be His witnesses in the world.

* What will infuriate the antichrist is that he will not be able to kill them.

(2) The second purpose of the TRIBULATION is to pour out judgment on unbelieving man and nations. (Revelation 3:10; Isaiah 26:21; II Thessalonians 2:11-12)

* So, in capsule form: the TRIBULATION provides a time for (a) salvation for Jews and Gentiles who believe and, (b) judgment for the Jews and Gentiles who do not believe.

What Is The Time Of The TRIBULATION?
* The “key” to this is Daniel’s prophecy of the “70 weeks” in Daniel 9:24-27.

Here is a “capsule summary” of that prophecy:
1. The entire prophecy has to do with Daniel’s people and city (Israel & Jerusalem).
2. There are two different leaders mentioned: the “Anointed One,” and the “ruler.” (This is Jesus and the “antichrist.”)
3. The entire time period involved is specified as “70 weeks,” divided into 3 sections of:seven weeks, sixty-two weeks, and one-week respectively.
4. This time period begins at the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (vs. 25)

The SIX PURPOSES For The Seventy Weeks Are In Verse 24:
(1) To finish transgression
(2) To put an end to sin
(3) To atone for wickedness
(4) To bring in everlasting righteousness
(5) To seal up vision and prophecy
(6) To anoint the most holy

What About The Seventy Weeks?
* Permission and authorization to rebuild the Temple and the city was given under the 2nd decree of Artaxerxes in Nehemiah 2:1-8. Since he began his reign in 465 B.C., his 20th year of reign would have been 445 B.C., and that would have been March 14th, 445 B.C. on our calendar.
- The 70 Weeks in reality refers to 490 years.
- Three periods: 7, 62 and 1.

(a) The Seven Weeks: A 49-year period from 445 B.C. would end in 396 B.C. In that year
Jerusalem was completed as well as the Old Testament Canon. God completed the physical foundations and the spiritual foundations in the same year. (Interesting point.)
(b) The Sixty-Two Weeks: This period lasts for 434 years and concludes with the “triumphal entry.”

* Adding the two periods together gives the figure 483 years. Using 360-day years, the duration of the first two periods of the “seventy weeks” equals a total of 173,880 days from the decree in 445 B.C. to the “triumphal entry.”

* Dr. Harold Hoehner, with some elaborate scientific help, discovered that March 30, A.D. 33 is the proper day for the “triumphal entry” – when Jesus was publicly presented as Messiah.

GUESS WHAT? That comes out to exactly 173,880 days!
* Every time Jesus said, “My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4), He knew what He was talking about. - Isaiah 46:10. God runs the show.

(c) The Final Week: is clearly 7 years, since that is the definite makeup of the other two periods. * This is the “70th week” of Daniel 9:24-27.

Daniel 9:27. The 7-year TRIBULATION is divided in the middle, creating 2 equal halves of 3 1/2 years each.

* According to Revelation 7:14, the last half is called THE GREAT TRIBULATION.

* The first 3 1/2 years of Daniels “70th Week” is a time of relative peace.

* But, in the middle of the “70th Week,” the antichrist desecrates the temple in Jerusalem and begins his tremendous persecution of Israel. This starts THE GREAT TRIBULATION.

How Does The Antichrist Desecrate The Temple?
* At the beginning of the Tribulation, the antichrist makes a 7-year covenant with Israel, which allows them to worship in their temple (Daniel 9:27). In the middle of the 7 years, he violates his covenant and desecrates the temple.

* Apparently, what is going to happen is that the “antichrist” is going to set up an idol to himself in the temple (II Thessalonians 2:4). Once this happens, Israel begins to be violently persecuted.
- Revelation 12:6. Israel flees to the wilderness to a place prepared by God for 1,260 days. (That’s 3 1/2 years.)

Here’s a brief outline for the TRIBULATION from Matthew 24:

(1) First Half Of The Tribulation (vs. 4-8)
a. Great deception by many false Christs (vs. 4-5)
b. Wars and rumors of wars (vs. 6-7a)
c. Famines, pestilences and earthquakes (vs. 7b)

(2) Second Half Of The Tribulation (vs. 9-14)
a. Persecution and martyrdom (vs. 9)
b. Betrayal and hatred (vs. 10)
c. Great deception by many false prophets (vs. 11)
d. Departure of phony believers from the truth (vs. 12)
e. Endurance of true believers (vs. 13)
f. Evangelistic blitz by the TWO WITNESSES and the 144,000 (vs. 14)

What Are The Signs The Jesus Is About To Return?
1. The desecration of the temple (Matthew 24:15-22)
2. The deception of the deceived (Matthew 24:23-26)
3. The devouring of divine judgment (Matthew 24:27-28)