Matthew 24:21-22 “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved…”  

Daniel 12:1 “…And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation,…” 

INTRODUCTION

Both Daniel and Jesus prophesied a time of unparalleled, worldwide suffering.  So intense that if the length were not restricted the human race would become extinct. 

NAMES FOR THIS PERIOD OF TIME 

1.      The Time of Jacob’s Trouble – Jeremiah 30:7 – “Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.”

2.      The Seventieth Week – Daniel 9:24 – “Seventy weeks are determined for your people…”           

v. 27 – “he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week”

3.      The Day of the LORD

II Peter 3:10 - But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

THE TIME OF THE TRIBULATION – between His coming for His saints and His coming with His saints.

Jude 14 – “Behold the Lord comes with ten thousand of His saints” 

Isaiah 61:2-3 – “to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn”

Three phases             

-time of grace

-time of judgement

-time of comfort 

THE LENGTH OF THE TRIBULATION – 7 years 

Daniel 9:27 – “he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week” c.f. vv. 25-26 

Revelation 11:3 – 1260 days–Daniel 9:27 – “in the middle of the week”                       

13:5 – 42 months  

THE DESCRIPTION OF THE TRIBULATION – Revelation 6-8 

The time of the fullness of God’s wrath

Revelation 6:17 - For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

Revelation 14:10 - he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.

Revelation 15:7 - Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever.

Revelation 16:1 - Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.” 

The time of Unrestrained Satanic Activity

Revelation 12:12 – “woe to the inhabitants of the earth and sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” 

II Thessalonians 2:7-8 – “He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way and then the lawless one will be revealed.” 

A Time of Population Decimation

Revelation 6:8 – “one fourth of the earth…” 

Revelation 9:18 – “a third of mankind was killed” 

Matthew 24:22 – “unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved.” 

Zechariah 13:8-9 – “two-thirds in it [Israel] shall be cut off and die … I will bring one-third through the fire.” 

The Time of Anti-Christ

Matthew 24:15 – “therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place…” 

Daniel 9:27 - 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.

Daniel 12:11 - From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. 

II Thessalonians 2:2-4 – “the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 

THE CLIMAX OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION-Armageddon 

Revelation 16:16 – “Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.” 

Revelation 14:14-20

I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one “like a son of man” with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.  Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.

Zechariah 14:1-3 –  A day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided among you. I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle.

II Peter 3:10-14 –  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.  

TWO QUESTIONS 

1.  Will the church go through the tribulation? – No 

I Thessalonians 5:9 – “For God did not appoint us to wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus.” 

I Thessalonians 1:10 – “and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” 

2.     Will anyone be saved during the tribulation? Yes 

Revelation 7:14 “ …   And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. “