The Tribulation Period

THE TRIBULATION PERIOD

REVELATION CHAPTER 5

TODAY AND NEXT WEEK, I AM GOING TO ATTEMPT TO DO SOMETHING THAT WILL BE UNIQUE IN MY MINISTRY. I AM GOING TO TRY TO COVER 13 CHAPTERS OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION, AND THROW IN SOME OF THE NINETH CHAPTER OF DANIEL AS WELL. THIS GROUP OF CHAPTERS COVERS THE TIME PERIOD THAT WE CALL THE TRIBULATION. THIS WILL JUST BE AN OVERVIEW, BUT IT’S VITALLY IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THAT THIS TRIBULATION PERIOD WILL BRING OUR END TIMES CLOCK TO MIDNIGHT AS IT ENDS WITH THE GLORIOUS APPEARING OF THE LORD AND USHERS IN THE MILLENNIAL REIGN OF CHRIST.

FROM THE END OF CHAPTER 3 UNTIL CHAPTER 19 OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION THE CHURCH IS NOT MENTIONED. THE REASON FOR THIS IS THAT THE CHURCH WILL HAVE BEEN RAPTURED AND ALL BORN-AGAIN PEOPLE WILL BE TAKEN TO BEGIN THEIR ETERNAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS. THEY WILL NOT HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE TRIBULATION PERIOD. THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO WILL HAVE TO SUFFER THROUGH THE TRIBULATION WILL BE THOSE PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT BORN-AGAIN.

TODAY WE WILL LOOK AT THE CONTEXT OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD, WHO INITIATES THE PERIOD, THE PURPOSE OF THE TRIBULATION, WHAT WILL OCCUR AND THE RESULTS OF THE TRIBULATION.

POINT ONE: CONTEXT OF THE TRIBULATION:

THE CONTEXT OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD IS ONE OF THE FEW THINGS ABOUT THE END TIMES THAT IS RATHER EASY TO UNDERSTAND. WE MUST GO TO THE RESPONSIVE READING IN DANIEL TO DO SO.

THIS PASSAGE IN DANIEL IS OFTEN CALLED DANIEL’S VISION OF SEVENTY WEEKS. THE TERM “SEVEN” USED HERE REFERS TO A UNIT OR BLOCK OF SEVEN. WHAT THAT SEVEN REFERS TO IS DETERMINED BY THE CONTEXT OF THE PASSAGE.

WE USE THIS OFTEN IN OUR LANGUAGE TODAY. IF I WERE TO TELL YOU I’M GOING TO GET A DOZEN OF SOMETHING, ONLY THE CONTEXT OF OUR DISCUSSION WILL TELL SPECIFICALLY WHAT I AM GETTING, BUT THE TERM “DOZEN” TELLS YOU I AM GETTING “TWELVE” OF WHATEVER IT IS.

IN DANIEL CHAPTER 9 AND IN REVELATION CHAPTER 12, WE FIND THAT THE “SEVEN” REFERRED TO ARE UNITS OF SEVN YEARS, AND WILL TOTAL 490 YEARS.

DANIEL GOES ON TO BREAK UP THE SEVENTY WEEKS INTO THREE GROUPS:

1. SEVEN GROUPS OF SEVEN YEARS = 7 X 7=49 YEARS

2. SIXY-TWO GROUPS OF SEVEN = 62 X 7= 434 YEARS

3. 1 GROUP OF SEVEN = 1 X 7= 7 YEARS

THE TOTAL OF THIS SEVENTY WEEKS OF SEVEN YEARS IS 490 YEARS.

HERE IS WHAT THIS MEANS FOR US:

DANIEL 9:25: “KNOW AND UNDERSTAND THIS: FROM THE TIME THE WORD GOES OUT TO RESTORE AND REBUILD JERUSALEM UNTIL THE ANOINTED ONE, G THE RULER, COMES, THERE WILL BE SEVEN ‘SEVENS,’ AND SIXTY-TWO ‘SEVENS.’ IT WILL BE REBUILT WITH STREETS AND A TRENCH, BUT IN TIMES OF TROUBLE.

1. FROM THE TIME THAT CYRUS THE KING OF THE MEDE-PERSIAN EMPIRE, WHO HELD ISRAEL IN EXILE, ISSUED A DECREE ALLOWING THE ISRAELITES TO GO BACK AND REBUILD JERUSALEM AND THE TEMPLE TO IT’S COMPLETION WAS EXACTLY 49 YEARS, OR 7 WEEKS, OR SEVEN TIME PERIODS OF SEVEN YEARS.

DANIEL 9:26: AFTER THE SIXTY-TWO ‘SEVENS,’ THE ANOINTED ONE WILL BE PUT TO DEATH AND WILL HAVE NOTHING. THE PEOPLE OF THE RULER WHO WILL COME WILL DESTROY THE CITY AND THE SANCTUARY. THE END WILL COME LIKE A FLOOD: WAR WILL CONTINUE UNTIL THE END, AND DESOLATIONS HAVE BEEN DECREED.

2. THIS SIXTY-TWO UNITS OF SEVEN YEARS EQUALS 434 YEARS. IT WILL BE A TIME OF GREAT TROUBLE FOR ISRAEL. IT COVERS THE INTERTESTAMENTAL PERIOD WHEN THERE WERE NO PROPHETS SPEAKING AND THE PEOPLE FELT THAT GOD WAS SILENT. THEY WOULD COME UNDER THE DOMINATION OF THE ROMANS AND CULMINATE DURING THE TIME OF CHRIST. THE PERIOD OF TIME FROM THE REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE TO THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS, DANIEL’S “ANOINTED ONE”, WAS 434 YEARS. SIR ROBERT ANDERSON IN HIS BOOK “THE COMING PRINCE” VERIFIES THESE DATES AS EXACT.

DANIEL 9:27: 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 AT THE TEMPLE HE WILL SET UP AN ABOMINATION THAT CAUSES DESOLATION, UNTIL THE END THAT IS DECREED IS POURED OUT ON HIM.

3. WE CAN SEE THAT FROM THE TIME OF CYRUS’S PROCLAMATION TO THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF CHRIST IS 483 YEARS. HISTORY WILL SUPPORT THESE FACTS. BUT WHAT OF THE FINAL UNIT OF “SEVEN” OR THE FINAL SEVEN YEAR PERIOD. THIS PERIOD IS THE TRIBULATION PERIOD. IT STATES THAT IT WILL BEGIN WITH THE ANTI-CHRIST CONFIRMING A COVENANT WITH “MANY”, THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL, BUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT TIME PERIOD HE WILL BREAK THE COVENANT AND DESECRATE THE TEMPLE. THIS WILL INTRODUCE THE SECOND HALF OF THE TRIBULATION, OR WHAT WE KNOW AS THE GREAT TRIBULATION.