Expert: Thurman C. Petty, Jr. - 4/25/2011

Question
Hello. I have been studying in the bible about events that deal with the great tribulation and rapture (mostly the books of daniel and revelation). What exactly is the great tribulation's purpose and who is it meant to impact? I know the nation of Israel has been through hard times and is mentioned in the Bible many times. Will they have to go through another hard time?

Answer
Janelle,

Sorry I'm so late getting this to you. I hope this answers your question adequately.
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Dear ,

Let’s begin with what Daniel says about the rejection of Israel as God’s special people.

Dan 9:24  Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, 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.
Dan 9:25  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: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
Dan 9:26  And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
Dan 9:27  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: 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.

These verses describe God’s last appeal to the nation of Israel. God gives them seventy weeks to “clean up their act,” as it were, stop sinning, and make reconciliation for all the sins they had done. During this time also God would anoint the most Holy.

In Bible prophecy, a day equals a year (Num. 14:34; Ezek. 4:6). So 70 weeks would equal 490 days, or 490 years. So God is giving the nation of Israel 490 years to repent and once again be His Holy people.

In verse 25  The angel tells Daniel what to look for in order to know when this time period would begin: It would start at the time when a decree would be given to both restore and build Jerusalem.

Even though both Cyrus and Darius issued decrees for the Jews to go back to Jerusalem, the decree of Artaxerxes in 457 BC is an exact match. Artaxerxes decreed that any Jews remaining outside of Judah were permitted to go home. He decreed that the temple should be built and provided financing and materials for the job.

There are three time periods in verse 25: seven years and 462 years. Adding these two together (483 years), and remembering that there was no zero year, brings us to the fall of 27 AD—the year that Messiah/Jesus was baptized and began His ministry.

Verse 26, explains that sometime after the end of the period that leads up to the baptismal anointing of Messiah, He would be “cut off”—executed—but not for Himself. He died for the sins of the entire human race.

Verse 26 continues by saying that the armies of the prince that will come would destroy the city and the temple.

Verse 27 flashes back to the point where Messiah was anointed/baptized. He would “confirm the covenant” with many for one week.

The words of the covenant that was confirmed with Israel at Mt. Sinai were the 10 commandments (Ex. 34:28). And the Messiah/Jesus was to confirm the covenant for one week—7 years. Then Daniel reveals that in the middle of the week—3 ˝ years—He would cause the “sacrifice and the oblation” to cease. Messiah would bring to an end the entire Jewish system of worship.

When Jesus died on Calvary 3 ˝ years after His baptism, there were several remarkable events:
1. The sun stopped shining for 3 hours, from noon until 3 p.m., the time of the evening sacrifice—in this case the sacrifice of the Passover lamb.
2. Jesus died after shouting with a loud voice.
3. There was a strong earthquake.
4. The veil, that separated the Holy from the Most Holy rooms of the Temple, was torn from top to bottom.

So Messiah/Jesus came right on time, and died right on time, and put an end of the Jewish sacrificial system. Jesus, of course, rose from the grave two days later, and 40 days afterward He ascended to Heaven.

But the 490-year prophecy still had 3 ˝ years to go. It extended until 34 AD. What happened then? The Christian church was growing by the thousands. The Jewish Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the nation, fought the church with warnings and imprisonment, which weren’t working.

This stalemate continued until a young “deacon” named Stephen was apprehended and stood up before the Sanhedrin. He gave a masterful speech on the history of God’s special people. At first it appears that the council listened, but evidently they became visibly obstinate. Seeing that he didn’t have more than a few minutes, he castigated them, blaming them for the death of Messiah. They pounced on him, dragged him out of the temple gate and stoned him until he was dead.

By this action on their part, the ruling council of the Jews brought to an end all possible chances they may have had to become God’s chosen people again. God had bourn with them for their 490 years of probation, sent His Son to them in an effort to confirm the covenant with them. And even after they murdered God’s Son, He gave them 3 ˝ more years to repent and come back to Him. What love! What patience! What mercy! And after that, their judgment.

After the Jewish people had passed the end of God’s 490-year probation, they were cast off as God’s special people. They no longer had any special place in God’s plan of salvation. Now they were no longer God’s special people. Anyone who believed could be saved, of course. That’s why Paul could say in Gal. 3:26-29:

Gal 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:27  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29  And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Does God have a special people today? Yes. Any person anywhere on this earth who believes in Jesus Christ (Messiah) as his/her Savior, becomes a member of Abraham’s seed (descendant) and heir of the promise. That’s why many Bible scholars refer to Christians as spiritual Israel.

So we learn from Daniel and subsequent prophets that after 34 A.D. the Jews were no longer God’s special people merely because they descended from Abraham. And Daniel made it clear in the last parts of 9:26, 27, that the temple and the city would be destroyed.

So putting together Daniel’s prophecy of the 490 weeks/years and the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D., we can never expect that the Jews as a nation would have any part in God’s plans for today and/or the future.

There are other Biblical statements that reveal that the gospel now belongs to every believer, Jews or Gentiles.

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

1 Pet 2:9  But ye [the Christian church] are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
1 Pet 2:10  Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

From these verses we see that the chosen nation of God, Israel, by rejecting Jesus as the Messiah and by denying Him as their king, have been set aside. And in their place God has placed a nation of people who “believe in Jesus” (John 3:16) and “who keep God’s commandments and have the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12)

Following the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the temple, for a period of about 300 years, the Roman empire persecuted both the Jews and the Christians. It was a terrible time and hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives. We could call this the First tribulation.


The Second and Great Tribulation
I’d suggest you read Matthew 24, as in it Jesus describes what would happen from the time of His ascension to His second coming. His sermon at this time helps us to see Christian history and it’s future right up to the 2nd Advent.

In Matt. 24:15-20 Jesus describes the destruction of Jerusalem. Jesus mentions the “abomination of desolation,” (vs. 24:15) as a sign of the destruction of Jerusalem. Luke defines this term in Luke 21.20, explaining that this refers to the time when Jerusalem would be surrounded by armies. This took place at Jerusalem in 68 A.D. when the Romans surrounded the city, built their ramps, and did everything to prepare for the siege. But then, for some unknown reason, the Romans left. The Christians recognized that this was the break that Christ predicted, and fled the city. So when the city was destroyed, no Christians lost their lives.

Now follow Jesus’ line of thought, beginning with verse 21:

Mat 24:21  For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Mat 24:22  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
Mat 24:23  Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
Mat 24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Mat 24:25  Behold, I have told you before.
Mat 24:26  Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
Mat 24:27  For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:28  For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
Mat 24:29  Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Mat 24:30  And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Mat 24:31  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Right after Jesus describes the destruction of Jerusalem (verses 15-20) He says, “then.” He indicates that after the destruction of Jerusalem, “then shall be great tribulation. . .” When is the great tribulation? It begins after the destruction of Jerusalem and ends some time before the Second Advent of Jesus. It will be so bad that it will almost wipe out those who are faithful to Jesus.

Does this mean that God’s elect, His faithful Christian people, would go through the great tribulation? Yes.

But the great tribulation is already past. Millions of faithful Christians died—different historians reveal different numbers, but it’s clear that somewhere between 50-400 million people lost their lives during this period because they believed in the Bible’s teaching of the gospel. Many lost their lives merely because they owned a Bible!

You see, the time of great tribulation is given in the Bible as happening in a time period after the fall of Jerusalem and before the coming of Jesus. A time during the period of history depicted in the church of Thyatira (Rev. 2:18-29), or around 300 A.D. to around 1800 A.D. This time period includes the set time prophecy of 1260 years/42 months/time, times, and half a time, when the people of God suffered persecution by papal Rome: 538-1798. History describes this period as the dark ages, and you can see why. This time period appears several times in both Daniel and Revelation. (Dan. 7:25; Rev. 12:13, 14; Rev. 13:5;  )

You may wonder if I’m right in saying the church goes through the great tribulation. When John saw the 144,000, one of the elders asked him who they were:

Rev 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

And the Bible talks about a time after the great tribulation. In Dan 12:1 the angel speaks of a time of trouble. This is not the same as the great tribulation for it describes a time when Jesus will leave the holy place in the heavenly sanctuary.

Looking at the same event, Revelation 22:11 records a proclamation  when Jesus will say:

Rev 22:11  He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

You’ll notice that the decision of every person has been made in the heavenly court before the coming of Jesus in the clouds. And the righteous and the wicked “still” have time before Christ returns.

I’ve written a lot here, and I hope I’ve been helped you understand this better. If you’d like to delve into it more, I recommend the book “The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan.” You can read this book on my web site, www.PettyPress.com. Click on “Books,” and you’ll find the book at the bottom of the page.

On my web page you’ll also find a series of Bible study guides, and Bible questions and answers—and my e-mail address pettypres@gmail.com so you can ask me your own questions.

God bless you as you continue studying His Word.

Stay close to Jesus,

Thurman C. Petty, Jr.