Listen to this articleTHE THREE GREAT TRIBULATIONS
This is a continuation of a series. If you have not read part 1 and 2 I encourage you to go through those first.
One of the biggest questions in eschatology is whether rapture will take place before tribulation, during the tribulation or after the tribulation. All answers are correct in part and all answers are wrong in part. There are actually three great tribulations. The Great Tribulation of Israel, also known as The Time of Jacob’s Trouble, The Great Tribulation of the Church and The Great Tribulation of the Unbelievers. Lets take a look at these three tribulations.
Jesus says that after the abomination is set up, there will come upon Israel, a tribulation such as never been. Lets read:
1. TIME OF JACOBS TROUBLE
Matthew 24:21 MKJV
(21) for then shall be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world to this time; no, nor ever shall be.
Don’t get caught up with the words, Great and Tribulation. In the book of Mark it is simply called, affliction.
Mark 13 MKJV
(19) For in those days shall be affliction, such as has not been from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never shall be.
When we continue with Daniel, soon after the Abomination of desolation is set up, there comes this great tribulation or affliction or as he calls it, a time of trouble:
Daniel 12 MKJV
(1) And at that time Michael shall stand up, the great ruler who stands for the sons of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation; until that time.
Jeremiah calls it, the time of Jacob’s Trouble
Jeremiah 30:7
(7) Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
Whether you call it a great tribulation, or a time of trouble or Affliction or time of Jacob’s trouble, it does not matter, let’s look at a few important factors.
IT SHALL ONLY BE IN ISRAEL
Mark 13: 18-19 WEB
Pray that your flight won’t be in the winter. For in those days there will be oppression, such as there has not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be.
From this wording, it is clear that this great tribulation is localized. People can run away from it by going to the mountains in Judea. Mathew adds the word Sabbath which shows that it’s strictly Jewish. Jeremiah calls it, Jacob’s trouble. The word tribulation means in trouble. So it’s Jacob’s tribulation, it is not the church’s tribulation. . It is not for the church. The church will be there on earth but these afflictions will take place specifically in Jerusalem and targeted specifically at the Israelites.
IT’S TRIBULATION SUCH AS NEVER BEEN
There are many tribulations in the scriptures, but this a tribulation that will occur for a short period of time in Jerusalem, and it is a tribulation, the kind of which has never been experienced since creation. What makes this tribulation unique is not the amount of suffering, but rather the kind of suffering.
Listen to the wording…
For in those days shall be affliction, *such as was not from the beginning of the creation* which God created unto this time, neither shall be.
For those will be days of tribulation, *the kind that hasn’t been from the beginning of creation* until now and never will be again.
For in those days there will be suffering *unlike anything that has happened from the beginning of the creation* that God created until now, or ever will happen.
International Standard Version
because those days will be a time of suffering, *a kind that has not happened from the beginning of God’s creation* until now, and certainly will never happen again.
So what’s unique about those days is the kind of suffering that Jews will encounter. It’s a kind of suffering that no human being has endured since creation, and that can never take place again. Pause and think for a moment.
We have had many genocides where sometimes up to 10 million people have been killed in all sorts of cruel ways. In the book of Joshua, we see whole cities and nations being erased from existence. When Jerusalem was seized in 70AD and 800 000 people died, it was not the first siege like that in history and neither was it the last nor the greatest. So what ever type of torture, persecution and cruelty you can think of which you have seen or heard, is not what will happen in the time of Jacob’s trouble.
It is a type of affliction that no human being has experienced since creation and no other human beings will experience after that.
Let’s read more from Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 30:4-7
4These are the words the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah:
5″This is what the LORD says: “`Cries of fear are heard– terror, not peace.
6Ask and see: Can a man bear children? Then why do I see every strong man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor, every face turned deathly pale?
7How awful that day will be! None will be like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it.
2. TRIBULATION OF THE CHURCH
While Israel goes through the great tribulation of Jacob’s Trouble, the church will also go through it’s own great tribulation. If fact the church has been going through great tribulation since its birth. Jesus promised this to the church:
John 16:33 MKJV
(33) I have spoken these things to you so that you might have peace in Me. In the world *you shall have tribulation,* but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.
The apostles went around the churches comforting them by telling them that they would get into the kingdom through much tribulation.
Acts 14:22 MKJV
(22) confirming the souls of the disciples, calling on them to continue in the faith and that *through much tribulation* we must enter into the kingdom of God.
2 Timothy 3:12
(12) Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
Every believer goes through great tribulation and the church as a whole must go through much persecution and tribulation. Now, after the six seal where the signs of nature occur, John sees all the saints from all the nations from all time now in heaven, and they are considered to have come out of great tribulation.
Revelation 7:9, 13,14
9After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;
13Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?”
14 I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are *the ones who come out of the great tribulation,* and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
This is what Paul meant when he said the saints would enter the kingdom through much tribulation. This is the great tribulation of the church. The tribulation that believers have experienced while in the world. This tribulation is different from Jacob’s trouble. The great tribulation of the church is exactly the same as the tribulation that all saints have gone through since the days of Abel. Just as Abel was killed by Cain, just as Lot was persecuted in Sodom, just as the prophets were killed in Israel by Jezebel till only 700 remained hidden in caves; just as the apostles were killed in cruel ways for the faith, so shall it be for christians till the end.
Jesus put it this way:
John 15:20 NLT
Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.
We all know that the princes of this world, tortured and killed our Master, but he overcame through the resurrection, such will happen to the church.
3. TRIBULATION FOR UNBELIEVERS
After the church has been raptured, God will bring tribulation for the world. This tribulation for the world is also called wrath and judgement.
2 Thes 1:6 King James Bible
Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
Romans 2:9 English Standard Version
There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek,
However, when God gives his tribulation, it will have eternal consequences on those who receive it.
Let us continue with Mathew 24.
THE DAYS SHALL BE SHORTENED
Matthew 24:21-22 King James Version (KJV)
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.
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.
So… The days of Jacob’s trouble shall be shortened. How long is it supposed to be? Daniel was told exactly how many days were attributed to this suffering.
Daniel 12:6-13
6And someone said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream, “How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?” 7And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream; he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished.
8I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, “O my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?” 9He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. 10Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand.
*11And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days.* 12Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. 13But go your way till the end.
And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days.”
So… First, Daniel is told that there is a time, time and half a time. According to the Daniel 4:25,32 we understand that 7 times is 7 years. 3 1/2 times is therefore 3 and half years which is equal to 1260 days. This is also supported by Rev 12:6,14.
So there are 1260 days, or 3 1/2 years that lead to the total shattering of the power of the Jews. Then Daniel asked what the outcome of that would be. He is told that from the time that the Abomination of Desolation is set up there would be 1290 days, which is about 3 years 7 months. Then 45 days later, will be the coming of someone later.
So Jesus now says, that these days have been shortened for the sake of the elect. Because he says, if those days had not been shortened, no flesh would have been saved during the time of Jacob’s trouble.
So while we know that the days have been shortened from 1290, we don’t know what the final number of days shall be, only God knows.
Let’s continue with Mathew.
MATHEW 24:22 – 28
22And unless those days should be shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect’s sake, those days shall be shortened. 23Then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ! Or, There! Do not believe it.
24For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders; so much so that, if it were possible, they would deceive even the elect. 25Behold, I have told you beforehand.
26Therefore if they shall say to you, Behold, He is in the desert! Do not go out. Behold, He is in the secret rooms! Do not believe it. 27For as the lightning comes out of the east and shines even to the west, so also will be the coming of the Son of man.
28For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered.
During this period of unparalleled suffering in Israel, false christ and false prophets will arisen the nation with great miraculous powers. One will go to the desert just like John the Baptist was in the desert and another will be operating from the secret rooms. All those will be false Christs.
The Eagles gathered to the dead body
However, the coming of our Lord will not be a secret event. It will be as public as lighting lights up the whole sky from east to west. At that time the eagles will be gathered to the dead body.
Jesus seems to be quoting from Job 39:30 where Jo says concerning the eagle, “where the dead carcasses are, there it is.”
The Eagles are those who faithfully wait upon the Lord.
Isaiah 40:31
31but those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
The carcass or dead body, is the Body of the one who was slain, Jesus Christ.
So when Jesus is saying the eagles shall be gathered to the carcass. So wherever that carcass is, so they will be. This is the wording that Paul also uses when describing the rapture.
2 Thes 2:1
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,
Jesus is God and he is everywhere and is always with us by his spirit. However, he has a body and when that body that was slain upon the cross returns, those who have waited upon the Lord shall be gathered to that body, and wherever that body is, thats where they shall be also.
As we continue with Mathew, Jesus explains this gathering of the elect to the son of man.
RAPTURE
Mathew 24
28For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered. 29And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. 30And then the sign of the Son of man shall appear in the heavens. And then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of the heaven with power and great glory. 31And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
So immediately after the time of Jacobs trouble, the rapture will take place. Jesus is seen coming with the clouds, he sends his angels with the sound of a trumpet and gathers his elect to himself.
Paul describes this event.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 ESV 1
(16) For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with *the sound of the trumpet* of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. (17) Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
The word rapture is the latin translation of the greek word harpazo which means to snatch and is in this verse translated caught up.
As we continue, Jesus gives further details of the rapture.
Matthew 24:40-42
(40) Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. (41) Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. (42) Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
We know from Revelation 6 that the sun will go dark, the moon will become as blood, the stars will fall from heaven and the nations will morn when the sixth seal is opened. Just as we know that Tribulation is in the fifth seal. So we can confidently place rapture in the sixth seal.
This is where I will end the Topic on Luke 21 and Mathew 24.
