What in the world is going to happen? The Tribulation
We're talking about what in the world is going to happen
- we said that one of our goals in this series was that
everyone involved would learn a basic overview of the end-
time events
- so far we've talked about two major ones
- INPUT - the first is the next event on the prophetic
timetable - the rapture
(INPUT - describe)
- after the church is caught up, we will face _________?
(Judgement Seat of Christ)
- while that is happening in heaven, an event of judgement is
beginning on earth, that is known as __________________?
- our goal now is to see what the Scripture says about this
important end-time event
- I think it would be good for me to take a minute and
explain how we're going to go at this study
- there are a number of factors that have to be considered in
deciding; how are we going to study this material?
1) there is a lot of material in the Bible about the
tribulation. In a minute, we'll mention some of the
various passages involved, but we're talking about 3
large passages of Scripture and then a whole bunch of
verses spread out all over the Bible. Point is,
obviously we can't study all of those passages in one
night. So we have to decide, do we go at in
chronologically, where we talk about the first event,
and then see what each passage says, etc.?
2) people are present here who are at various stages of
their Christian life. Some folks have known the three
step end time time-line we just mentioned for years,
others are just getting it down. We have to careful as
we study this subject that we don't take anything for
granted.
3) we need to be applicational however we handle the
material. The temptation when there is a lot of
material is to have a lot of content without many
applications or how-to's. We on't want to fall in that
trap as we study the tribulation.
- So, with all that in the mix, here's how we'd like to
handle the material. Tonight, we're going to do an
overview of the tribulation and try to address some of the
basic questions involved. Then, in the next couple of
weeks, we'll take one of the longer pasages each evening
and see what that passage contributes to our overall
understanding of the subject.
- let's begin with:
I. What is the tribulation?
seven year period of judgement on the earth and its
inhabitants which begins shortly after the rapture.
- one of the ideas we'd like you to leave with tonight is
that the tribulation is not an obcure event that is
mentioned in just a few places in Scripture
- to demonstarte that. let's look at:
II. What Are The Principle Passage Involved?
- I say principle because we are not at all attempting to
mention them all - these are just some of the more
prominent ones
A. 3 major ones (Input?)
- Rev. 5-19
- Matt. 24-25
- Daniel 9, 12
B. Day of the Lord passages
- we need to be careful with this one
- this phrase is used differently in Scripture
- sometimes its speaking primarily of the final day
at the end of the tribulation
- usually it is speaking of the entire tribulation,
and sometimes even the tribulation and the
millennial period
- these passages are important because they give some
important truth about the trib.
- a few of them are:
- I Thess. 5:2 - For yourselves know perfectly
that the day of the Lord so
cometh as a thief in the night
- II Peter 3:10 - But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night,
in which the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise, and
the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also,
and the works that are in it,
shall be burned up
- many in the OT
- theme of the book of Zechariah
- I wanted us to see those passages for at least two reasons:
1) to get an idea of the magnitude of the study we're
undertaking
2) to demonstrate that this is not some obscure Bible
issue
- thats important because you'll probably run into
a person some day who claims to be a Christian
who says something like,
- the tribulation, thats something that has
already passed
- you're making too big of a deal of that
- when our study is done, I think you'll be
able to say - there's no way that what the
Bible describes as the tribulation is
already passed
III. How Do We Know How Long The Tribultaion Will Last?
A. Daniel 9:24-27
- this passage is one of the more difficult ones in
Scripture but it can be understood if we walk
through it carefully
- Input - what is the context according to verse 2
(Daniel learned that they were to be in
captivity seventy years through reading
Jeremiah)
- verses 3-19 are a record of Daniel's prayer as a
result of that understanding
- just to give you a flavor of this (read vs. 3-7)
- its important for us to understand the news about
the tribulation in this context
- what happens in verses 20-21? (angel Gabriel comes
with new revelation about Israel)
- read 22-23
- let's work our way through the vision
- read 24
- work weeks is the word "heptad" - literally "a
seven" (which shows how it would often be
translated "week"
- in jewish thinking, a heptad wasn't always seven
days, it was just seven "somethings"
- in this case, its seven years
- Jews were very accustomed to thinking in groups of
seven years
- you may remember that the law required them to
observe a sabbath year, where they plowed their
ground for six years and then let it rest for the
seventh (Lev. 25 and other places)
- the fact that they hadn't done that is one of the
reasons they were in the Babylonian captivity
- point is - when Gabriel spoke to Daniel about 70
"sevens", he would have been thinking about 70
years
- INPUT - how many years does that total (490)
- let me also add that the Jews had a little
different way to count years, so theirs were a
little shorter than ours
- read vs. 25 (through Jerusalem)
- what event is that talking about? (commandment
given to Nehemiah in chapter 2 to go rebuild the
walls) (in 440's BC)
- finish vs. 25 and read 26 through "cut off"
- Input - who is the Messiah and what does the phrase
"cut off" mean? (Jesus, speaking of His
crucifixion)
- Input - how many weeks between the time the
decree to rebuild Jerusalem went out and the time
the Messiah was cut off? (69 weeks)
- how many years would that be? (483 Jewish years)
- do you know how many years it was between the time
Nehemiah received his decree and the time Jesus was
crucified? (483 Jewish years)
- point - a significant part of this prophecy has
already been literally fulfilled
- read 26-27
- so the Prince (antichrist) sets up a covenant with
many for one week (7 years)
- he breaks that covenant at the mid point, dividing
the tribulation into 2 three and 1/2 year periods,
the latter part often being referred to as the
great tribulation
- that same concept is found in several other
passages (please keep a finger in Dan. 9)
B. Dan. 12:7 - read
- this passage is speaking of the second half of the
tribulation, the great trib.
- tells how long that period is, "time, times, and
half a time"
- obviously this phrase is criptic, but how many
years do you think would be designated by this
phrase? (3 1/2 years)
- we find thats exactly right when we look at a
similar passage in the book of Revelation
C. Revelation 11:1-2
- this passage is also speaking of the great
tribulation which shall last three and a half
years, or 42 months
- the point of all this is that the tribulation lasts for
seven years, and will be divided into two 3 1/2 year periods -
- there's an important question we need to deal with
before we talk about some implications of all this, and
that is;
III. Why Wasn't The Church Mentioned?
- we're going to spend quite a bit of time here, so let me
be sure we've explained the question properly
- INPUT - the 69th week in Daniel 9 dealt with what?
- INPUT - the 70th week dealt with what?
- the question some might have would be - there's obviously
been a great gap between the 69th and 70th week where the
entire church age has fit - why wasn't that gap more
apparent in the Daniel passage?
- remember some of our principles of hermenutics
- 1) our interpretation of a seemingly obscure passage in the
Bible must bear the weight of the rest of the Scripture
2) we interpret passages in light of their context
3) if the plain sense makes good sense, seek no other sense
- see, we aggree with Jay Adams on a lot of things, but the
way you interpret prophecy is not one of them
- some of us have said to Jay that we can't believe you're so
biblical in many areas but you won't interpret the Bible
literally in the area of prophecy
A. The real issue? - heremnuetics
- we interpret the Bible literally accross the board
- the fact that the first 69 weeks were fulfilled
literally give us good warrant to do so
- so we still have the question, why doesn't the
issue of the church age come up in this discussion
of the 69 and the 70th week
B. Answer? we believe in progressive revelation
-in other words, God didn't dump all his truth on
people all at once
C. Examples?
- In fact, Jesus told his disciples something that
demonstrates that concept
- INPUT - do you remember the statement?
1. John 16:12 -I have many things to say unto you,
but ye cannot bear them now
- there is a also a verse at the end of the
Gospel of John that demonstrates that concept
- INPUT?
2. John 21:25 - And there are also many other
things which Jesus did, which, if they should
be written every one, I suppose that even the
world itself could not contain the books that
should be written
- so obviously, God didn't give his people all truth at
once
- therefore, we know more things about certain
events than Old Testament saints would know, or
needed to know
- revelation was progressive
here are a couple of other examples:
3. John 5:25-29 - the passage Pastor dealt with
Sunday night,
- Jesus was talking about resurrection
- in that passage, he made the resurrection
sound like it only happened once
- but because of other truth revealed in the New
Testament, we know there are several kinds of
resurrections (NT saints are raise at one time,
unbelievers are raised at a different time,
resurrection of OT saints - they don't all happen
at the same time
- INPUT - so why didn't Jesus tell them all about
the resurrections at that point?
1) they didn't need to know
2) they couldn't have handled it
- lets look at one more example
4. Luke 4:18-19/Isa. 61:1-2
- INPUT - what did Jesus leave out? (last part of
verse 2)
- why? - because Jesus was there to discuss his
first coming
- and the rest of verse two has to do with
his second coming
- and there is going to be a great gap
between those two events, but the Jews
reading Isaiah 61 didn't necessarily
need to know that
- now I realize you might be wondering, Pastor Viars, why are
you emphasizing this point so much?
- Here's the answer, you will run into people who will tell
you the tribulation has already taken place
- they'll say something like - those were just general
judgements that took place in the first centuries of church
history
- after our study of Matt 24-25, and Rev. 5-19, your first
response to that will be, there's no way that what happened
centuries of church history literally fulfill what the
Bible predicts about the tribulation
- then that person will say, then why didn't the Bible
writers in the Old Testament prophesie a great gap between
Christ's first coming and his judgement
(central issue) - why isn't that gap more apparent in the
Daniel passage and the Isaiah passage
- you could answer that question from what we've been talking
about tonight - the issue of progressive revelation
- God didn't dump all his truth on his people at once
D. illustration
- perhaps this idea can best be pictured by thinking
about what its like driving in some of the western
states
- you see a group of mountains that appear to be very
close to one another
- then after you get closer and drive through the
first one, what do you often find?
- they may be 20-30 miles apart
- from your limited vantage, you could see the peaks
but you couldn't see what was in-between, and you
really didn't need to
- so why isn't the church age gap (between Christ's
first coming and the tribulation) more apparent in
Daniel 9?
- because of the progressive nature of revelation
- probably also need to say, just so we're not
misunderstood, that that process concluded when the
Scriptures were written, and the book of Revelation
puts some strong warnings against adding anything
else to it
- so what we're saying about Daniel 9 is consistent
with what we believe about hermeneutics
- there is a great gap between the 69th and 70th
week, and thats what the NT refers to as the
great mystery of the church
IV. Implications?
there are several implications from the verses we've
looked at
- INPUT - what do you think might be the significance
of the fact that the prophecy of the weeks
is preceeded by the material we saw in the
first part of Daniel 9?
A. even God's severest judgement is in the context
of His marvelous grace
- Daniel said in 9:7 - O Lord, righteousness
belongs to thee, but unto us confusion of face
- he had that right, didn't he
- Lord, as I've sat in Babylon and examined this
situation, I can see that we have been wrong
and you have been right
- then he says these powerful words - (in verse
9) - To the Lord, our God, belong mercies and
forgiveness, though we have rebelled against
Him
- see, isn't it true that when we think of
judgements like the tribulation or the Great
White Throne, our first thoughts are often
negative as we consider how bad it will be for
those who are there
- I'm not saying that thats wrong, but if we view
those judgements in the context of God's grace,
(like it was presented i Daniel) perhaps
instead of first thinking about how terrible it
will be for those who are there, we ought to
think about how amazing it is that some of us
won't be there
- its like the passage we looked at Sunday
evening, where Jesus said, He that heareth my
word, and believeth on him that sent me, shall
not come into judgement, but is passed from
death unto life
- so even God's severest judgement is given
within the context of His marvelous grace
B. the design of the tribulation proves his
longsuffering
- its amazing to think about how God, in His plan
chose even at this period in history to hold
off his judgement till the very end
- do you ever get impatient with the sinfulness
of others?
- do you ever get impatient with the sinfulness
of the world in which we live?
- Input - what aspect of this world's sinfulness
do you find it hardest to be patient with?
- I often have trouble when I read the newspaper
- it usually starts right around the editorial
page (does that happen to you?)
- whenever I read phrases like "reproductive
freedom", or legislating morality, or if you
don't believe in abortion you can't believe in
capital punishment
- some times you think - this has got to stop
- then I think, wait a minute-thats just your
view of sin
- imagine having God's view
- imagine seeing the world's sin from his view
- imagine seeing your sin from his view
- and then I think, He still, in his plan chose
to hold off judgements like the tribulation and
then Great white throne for a long period of
time, so as many as possible would trust Christ
as Savior
- see, studying the tribulation ought not to
leave us discouraged, it ought to leave us
amazed!
- I think our hymn writers had it right when they
wrote "I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus
the Nazarene, and wondered how he could love
me, a sinner condemned, unclean"
- another one of our favorites says, "Amazing
Love, how can it be, that thou my God,
should'st die for me"
- our study tonight has given us material
for another verse, how the design of the
tribulation, with the great gap between
his first and second coming, is a
testimony to his longsuffering
- before we leave this one, I think we could turn
this around and ask ourselves a few questions
- in today's language we'd say God is pretty slow
at writing people off
- good question to ask would be - If God is so
patient with others and me, maybe I could be
more patient with so & so
(imperfect mate, child, co-worker,
neighbor)
- see, some of us are pretty quick t deciding that
theres no hope for that person
- no reason to spend time with that person
- this study of the tribulation ought to convict
us of that
C. God's judgements are carefully planned
- I think its instructive to remember that some of
the passages we're studying tonight were written
over 2500 years ago
- even then, God had carefully planned the
tribulation judgement
- when the tribulation begins, no one can say that
God acted in haste or indecision
- that has some instruction to the way we go after
sin, doesn't it
- I wonder how many of us could think of a time, even
a recent time, where we went after someone or
something that we believed was sinful, but hadn't
really planned it out very well
- we didn't think about if these were the words that
would be easiest to understand and accept
- we didn't consider whether this was the best time
- the judgement was there, but it wasn't planned very
well
- it was done in haste
- and now we find ourselves thinking, I wish I had
those words back
- I wish I had that day back
- I wish I had that letter back
- I wish I had that conversation back
- these verses tonight have shown how carefully
the tribulation has been planned
Perhaps that:
D. Explains why vengeance doesn't belong to us
- ever wanted to move into the role of the heavenly
payroll clerk
- where we help God out by getting revenge in this
situation
- have you ever been frustrated by Romans 12 which
says that we must return good for evil and that
vengeance belongs to the Lord?
- this situation helps explain that