THE TRIBULATION

THE PURPOSE OF THE TRIBULATION

Isaiah 10:5-6 - O Assyrian, the rod of My anger, and the staff in their hand is My indignation.  I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of My wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

Jeremiah 30:1-7 - The Word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Write all the words that I have spoken unto you in a book.  For, lo, the days come, says the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, says the LORD:  and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.  And these are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah.  For thus says the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.  Ask now, and see whether a man does travail with child?  Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?  Alas!  For that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the Time of Jacob's Trouble (the Tribulation of Israel); but he shall be saved out of it.
Ezekiel 7:7-9 - The morning is come unto you, O you that dwell in the land:  the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.  Now will I shortly pour out My fury upon you, and accomplish My anger upon you:  and I will judge you according to your ways, and will recompense you for all your abominations.  And My eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity:  I will recompense you according to your ways and your abominations that are in the midst of you; and you shall know that I am the LORD Who smites.

Daniel 9:24-27 - Seventy weeks (of years) are determined upon your people (Israel) and upon your holy city (Jerusalem), to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.  Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks (sixty-nine weeks of years, or 483 years): the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.  And after threescore and two weeks (after the last of the 483 years) shall Messiah (Israel's Anointed King; the Christ) be cut off (killed; crucified), but not for Himself:  and the people of the (future) prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary (this occurred in A.D. 70 by Rome, so he will be from within the Roman Empire); and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.  And he (the future Roman prince) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (the last seven years of the 490 years): and in the midst of the week** he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

* Note:  "The midst of the week" would be half of seven years (three and a half years, or a time, times, and half a time - Dan. 7:25; 12:7; Rev. 12:14); half of eighty-four months - (forty-two months - Rev. 11:2; 13:5); half of 2520 days - 1260 days - Rev. 11:3; 12:6).  Daniel's Seventieth Week is another name for the Tribulation of Israel.


Matthew 24:1-29, Christ's description of the Tribulation, shows a break, verse fifteen, which occurs midway through the seven-year period of Israel's trial.  The order of events presented in the Book of Revelation, reveals that the Church is not mentioned during the book's description of the seven-year Tribulation (Chapters 6 - 18).  By the time the Tribulation begins, the Lord will have taken the true Church up into heaven (see Jn. 14:1-3; 1 Cor. 15:50-54; 1 Thes. 4:13-18; and Rev. 4:1 where John is a representative of the Church Age).  Chapters 6 - 11 describe the first half of the Tribulation; Chapters 12 - 13 depict the midst of the seven-years; and Chapters 14 - 18 describe the last half of the Tribulation which is identified as the Great Tribulation (Mt. 24:21).  Just as the Church is spared from the judgment aimed as turning Israel to repentance, Israel is spared from the Lord's wrath during the Great Tribulation (see Rev. 12:1-6)!  

UNLESS YOU HAVE TRUSTED IN JESUS CHRIST,

AND YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD BY FAITH IN HIM,

YOU ARE SOON GOING TO FACE THE HORRIFIC

EVENTS THAT ARE FORETOLD IN SCRIPTURE;

TURN TO GOD IN FAITH WHILE YOU HAVE TIME!