The Great Tribulation
Matthew 24:1-35
Video - Rapture
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Are you ready if Jesus were to come for His church today?
Would you be raptured or would you be left behind?
If you can’t answer that you know for sure that when Jesus Christ returns for the church that you would be caught up to meet him, you are gonna be left behind.
You will have an opportunity at the end of this message to make sure that you will be with Christ when he returns.
But what if you are here today and you aren’t so sure about all this Jesus stuff anyway.
What is so bad about being left behind, anyway?
Well, 2 weeks ago, we began this short series on the second coming of Christ and we began with the rapture, the event that could happen at any moment and will begin to usher in the prophesied events known as the “end times.”
What comes after the Rapture on the time line of end times events?
Well, sometime soon after the rapture, the Tribulation is prophesied to begin.
That is what we are going to talk about today.
Turn with me to Matthew 24.
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In these verses, Jesus describes a period of time that comes after the rapture and will precede his actual return to set foot upon the earth.
Now, this is important for us to know for a couple of reasons.
First, if you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, so that if you do not receive Christ as Savior before he returns, you will recognize the truth of who He is and receive Him as your Savior while there is still time.
Second, so we who are believers might be encouraged to be sharing the good news of Christ with those who have not yet received Him because this is going to be a time of great devastation and trouble for all who are still here.
So, Let’s read and see what Jesus has to say about this time.
Matthew 24:1-35
24 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 "Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"
4 Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ’I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9 "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
15 "So when you see standing in the holy place ’the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel — let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now — and never to be equaled again. 22 If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ’Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ’There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect — if that were possible. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
26 "So if anyone tells you, ’There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ’Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29 "Immediately after the distress of those days
"’the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
30 "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
32 "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Pray
Ok, I think the best way to approach this is to ask some questions and take notice of some things. I want you to notice first some of the things Jesus mentions in this text.
The Disciples are seeing the incredible buildings of the temple area and Jesus focuses them on the fact that the temple area will be destroyed. The temple is something that is of strictly Jewish importance.
In verse 15, he also talks about the Holy Place, those in Judea and mentions the Sabbath in verse 20. These all have to do with the Jewish people and their practice of religion.
It is important to realize that
The Tribulation is a time mainly focused on Israel
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Matthew 24:1-3, 15, 20; Daniel 9:24-27
Yes, there will be others alive, non Jews, but this is a time when God’s attention has turned back to fulfill his promises to the nation of Israel.
Notice that Jesus specifically mentions Daniel and “the abomination that causes desolation.” That was talked about in Daniel 9 when the angel is talking to Daniel and tells him that "Seventy ’sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city…(Daniel 9:24). Daniel’s people are the Jews.
As we learned 2 weeks ago, the first 69 “weeks, ” or 7 year periods have been fulfilled from the signing of the decree of Artexerxes in Nehemiah to the coming of Jesus into Jerusalem to be crucified, or cut off.
There remains the one “week,” one seven year period that is left to be fulfilled for Daniel’s people where God will fulfill his promises in bringing salvation to the Jews as they recognize that Jesus really is their Messiah and many of them receive Him as their Savior. It is in this time of Tribulation and hardship that they will realize this.
So, this time that Jesus is talking to the Disciples, who are Jews, seems to be largely Jewish in focus and nature, which is consistent with what has been prophesied in the Old Testament.
But, What Events or Signs can be expected in the Tribulation?
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Jesus begins talking about some of the signs that will be evident as time leads up to his second coming.
He begins with what can be described as
Birth Pains - General signs of Tribulation
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Jesus talks about some general signs that will be increasing in severity over time and in verse 8, He says “All these are the beginning of birth pains.” (Matthew 24:8)
What are these birth pains?
Well, He tells us that
There will be wars and rumors of war (v. 6)
There will be famines and earthquakes (v. 7)
There will be persecutions and an increase in wickedness
Now, don’t we see many of these things happening now?
Yes.
But Jesus describes them as “birth pains.”
When a woman is going to give birth the pain she experiences at first is more general, just more of a discomfort from getting larger, then as the due date approaches, the pains get more frequent and intense, becoming most intense right before she gives birth.
The whole time between the first coming and second coming of Christ could be characterized as part of the end times, and from this description, it would seem that there would be an increase in some of the things he describes, that might occur throughout history, but become more frequent and more intense as the end approaches.
It is difficult to say that things have actually increased in the things Jesus mentions or not, but we can certainly say that they have all appeared to increase and become more frequent and intense because our ability to hear about these things has increased, especially over the last generation.
Natural Disasters – Earthquakes
Over the past 6 years, we have seen some massive earthquakes that have caused 2 tsunamis and unbelievable damage and destruction in Indonesia, Japan, Haiti and Chili.
Famines
It is estimated that 950 million people are undernourished, that is about 13% of the 7 billion people on the planet.
Wickedness
Turn on the news and we can see wickedness and evil that we could not imagine.
Just this week, a man killed 8 people including his ex wife in a beauty salon. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/13/california-salon-shooting-victim-remains-in-critical-condition/
A woman attempts to steal an unborn baby from a woman and the woman and baby die.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/10/suspect-allegedly-removed-fetus-from-wisconsin-woman-killing-mother-and-baby/
Wars
There are at least 12 major conflicts going on currently defined as 1000 or more deaths per year, along with about 20 other conflicts that are experiencing less than 1000 deaths per year.
Now have these things really gotten worse over time, or do they just seem to have gotten worse because we hear about them more frequently in this age of instant communication?
I don’t know, but I do know that while we all will experience this general tribulation and birth pains during our lives, during the time after the rapture, these general tribulations will definitely increase.
And not only will these general tribulations and birth pains become more intense and frequent, but this world will also experience
Great Distress - Specific signs of Tribulation
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Matthew 24:15-35
Jesus says in Matthew 24:21 that “there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now — and never to be equaled again.”
This will be a time of hardship like no other and will not just have general tribulations, but some specific events that occur indicating this time is at hand.
What are some of those things?
Well, First, during this time after the rapture, the people will see
The Rise of the Anti-Christ
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Jesus refers to “the abomination that causes desolation spoken of through the prophet Daniel.”
The prophecy in Daniel talks about a leader who will come (Daniel 9:26). That leader is the Anti Christ who will be a world ruler.
We also learn about him through Paul in
2 Thessalonians 2:3-4. He is called a “man of lawlessness” and “the man doomed to destruction.” It says “He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.”
That is the “the abomination that causes desolation.”
Reality Check
Now, let’s stop here and think about this a moment. Are we to believe that rapture occurs and that some person is going to rise to national and international prominence over some short period of time and be a leader of a reformed Roman empire?
Is that believable that a person could rise to that kind of power over a couple or few years?
Well, we have seen charismatic men in our own generation rise quickly to national and international power.
Boris Yeltsin
In the early 1990’s, Boris Yeltsin rose quickly to prominence in Russia and helped bring the USSR to an end over the course of less than 2 years.
Barack Obama
In our own country, nobody had even heard of Barack Obama in February of 2004. He was a little known Illinois state Senator. Then he won the democratic nomination for the U.S Senate, won the Senate seat and just 3 years after nobody even knew who he was, he began a run for president and won.
And these were just regular men. That Anti Christ will be the embodiment of Satan who masquerades as an angel of light and has power beyond our own. To think that this person could not rise quickly to international leadership would be naïve.
So, in a short time after the rapture, those who are left will see this anti-Christ emerge who will rule over most of the world.
Now, the rise of the Anti-Christ is not the actual beginning of the formal final 7 year period that is talked about in Daniel and Revelation.
That begins with another specific sign.
The covenant between Israel and the Anti-Christ
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Daniel 9:27 says
27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ’seven.’ In the middle of the ’seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him."
The anti-Christ will be the ruler of much of the world in what may be a revived Roman Empire. He will make a Covenant with Israel that will guarantee their safety and somehow allow them to rebuild the temple and begin sacrificing again.
This will be the formal beginning of the final 7 year period of tribulation, though it may seem to start with peace in the world. That will not last long.
Reality Check
Now, to have a Covenant with Israel has only been possible for the past 60 years.
It was not until 1948 that Israel once again became a nation.
That we have seen Israel once again become a nation and that Jews are continuing to flock there is an indication that we are getting closer to the times of the end.
Over the past 60 years, the Jews living in Israel has gone from about 650,000 to about 5.7 million. We would expect that we continue to see Jews flock to their homeland as Bible prophecy plays out in our time.
Another specific sign of the Tribulation will be
The rise of 144,000 Jews as Evangelists
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Revelation 7:3-14
Revelation 7 talks about 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each of the tribes of Israel, that will come to belief in Jesus as Savior early on during the tribulation and will be tasked with sharing the good news of Jesus with all who remain.
One of God’s main purposes during this time was to turn his attention back to the Jews and their eyes will be opened to who Jesus is, the Messiah they have been waiting and looking for, but whom they rejected in his first advent.
These evangelist Jews will evangelize not just among the Jews, but among all who are still alive so that there will be “multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language” (Revelation 7:9).
At the same time as these Jewish evangelists, another sign of the return of Christ will be
The Appearance of the Two Witnesses
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Revelation 11:3-6
3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth."…6 These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.
Some believe these witnesses will be Moses and Elijah because of what it says in verse 6. Elijah was the prophet who made it not rain in the land and Moses was who God used to bring the 10 plagues on Egypt. Also, it was Moses and Elijah who met Jesus on the mount of Transfiguration that Peter, James and John saw.
Others believe these witnesses will be Elijah and Enoch, because these 2 men were taken by God without dying and it is destined for each man to die.
Whatever the case, these two witnesses will be on the earth beginning during the first half of the tribulation for 3 ½ years. Then they will be killed and their bodies will lie in the streets for 3 ½ days and then will be resurrected and ascend into heaven.
Transition
Now during this whole time there will be opportunities for people to respond by believing in Jesus as Savior, and there will be some who do. But this will be anything but a time of joy. This is the specific time that
The Judgment of God is poured out
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The reason that this is a time of great tribulation and distress is because God is pouring out wrath and judgment on the earth.
Much of the book of Revelation discusses these judgments known as the seal judgments, the trumpet judgments and bowl judgments.
These are judgments that will affect much of nature and of those who are still alive after the rapture. During this time of Tribulation, there will be “natural disasters like have never been seen before.”
Earthquakes, wars, the pollution of the waters. At one point, a third of the remaining population will be killed. That could be 2 billion people!
These judgments will be severe, but they are also a last opportunity for people to turn and repent of their sin and wickedness. Unfortunately for many, we read in Revelation that many refused to repent (Revelation 9:20, 21; 16:9, 11) and be saved.
Conclusion
So, in light of this coming time of Tribulation, I have 2 questions for everyone here today.
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First,
Have you received Jesus?
Scripture tells us that we receive Jesus by truly believing in Him.
John 1:12 - to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
Romans 10:9 - if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Have you received Jesus by truly believing in Him? By believing in who He is (God in the flesh) and what He did (died on the cross and rose again).
If you believe that, then turn to him and confess Him as your Savior.
I am going to lead in a prayer in a moment, and if that is what you believe, then repent of your sin and pray along and receive Jesus today.
But I have a second question for those here today.
If you have received Jesus as Savior already,
Have you Shared Jesus?
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Right after the verse in Romans about believing in Christ, Paul writes,
Romans 10:14-15 - 14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15…As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
If you want to live an obedient life in Christ, then that means sharing the good news of Jesus with others so they too can experience the fullness of life the Lord has come to give.
Many Christians, including myself, live life like there is no urgency in sharing the good news of Jesus.
We need to be living for the glory of God obediently and realize that the reason He has left us here to be obedient to Him is so we can share the good news of Jesus with others.
I want you to think of someone close to you, that you are going to pray for and look for an opportunity this week to share the good news of Jesus with them.
And invite them to church so they can be in fellowship and worship him corporately and continue to grow in the knowledge of the Lord.
So, let’s pray.
If you need to receive Jesus, do that now.
And if you need to share Jesus, pray about who to share Him with and seize the opportunity that God gives you this week.
Let’s pray.
