I. Introduction.
A. There is no better way to come to an understanding of the Scriptural concept of the tribulation than to let Scripture speak for itself. It is impossible to set forth all the declarations of the Word on this subject. A few will suffice. The line of revelation begins early in the Old Testament, and continues through the New. Consider the following verses of Scripture.
1. Deu 4:30-31. 30 In your distress when all these things happen to you in future days, if you return to the Lord your God and obey him 31 (for he is a merciful God), he will not let you down or destroy you, for he cannot forget the covenant with your ancestors that he confirmed by oath to them.
2. Isa 2:19. They will go into caves in the rocky cliffs and into holes in the round,
trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord and his royal splendor,
when he rises up to terrify the earth.
3. Isa 24:1, 3, 6. 1:Look, the Lord is ready to devastate the earth and leave it in ruins; he will mar its surface and scatter its inhabitants. 3:The earth will be completely devastated and thoroughly ransacked. For the Lord has decreed this judgment. 6:So a treaty curse devours the earth; its inhabitants pay for their guilt. This is why the inhabitants of the earth disappear, and are reduced to just a handful of people.
4. Isa 24:19-21. 19 The earth is broken in pieces, the earth is ripped to shreds, the earth shakes violently. 20 The earth will stagger around like a drunk; it will sway back and forth like a hut in a windstorm. Its sin will weigh it down, and it will fall and never get up again. 21 At that time the Lord will punish the heavenly forces in the heavens and the earthly kings on the earth.
5. Isa 26:20-21: 20 Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms! Close your doors behind you! Hide for a little while, until his angry judgment is over. 21 For look, the Lord is coming out of the place where he lives, to punish the sin of those who live on the earth. The earth will display the blood shed on it; it will no longer cover up its slain.
6. Jer 30:7. Alas, what a terrible time of trouble it is! There has never been any like it. It is a time of trouble for the descendants of Jacob, but some of them will be rescued out of it.
7. Dan 9:27. He will confirm a covenant with many for one week. But in the middle of that week he will bring sacrifices and offerings to a halt. On the wing of abominations will come one who destroys, until the decreed end is poured out on the one who destroys.”
8. Dan 12:1. “At that time Michael, the great prince who watches over your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress unlike any other from the nation’s beginning up to that time. But at that time your own people, all those whose names are found written in the book, will escape.
9. Joel 1:15. How awful that day will be! For the day of the Lord is near;
it will come as destruction from the Divine Destroyer.
10. Joel 2:1-2. 1 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm signal on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land shake with fear, for the day of the Lord is about to come. Indeed, it is near! 2 It will be a day of dreadful darkness, a day of foreboding storm clouds, like blackness spread over the mountains. It is a huge and powerful army—there has never been anything like it ever before, and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come!
11. Amos 5:18, 20. 18 Woe to those who wish for the day of the Lord!
Why do you want the Lord’s day of judgment to come? It will bring darkness, not light. 20 Don’t you realize the Lord’s day of judgment will bring darkness, not light—gloomy blackness, not bright light?
12. Zeph 1:14-15, 18. 14 The Lord’s great day of judgment is almost here; it is approaching very rapidly! There will be a bitter sound on the Lord’s day of judgment; at that time warriors will cry out in battle. 15 That day will be a day of God’s anger, a day of distress and hardship, a day of devastation and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and dark skies…18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s angry judgment. The whole earth will be consumed by his fiery wrath.
Indeed, he will bring terrifying destruction on all who live on the earth.”
13. Matt 24:21-22. 21 For then there will be great suffering unlike anything that has happened from the beginning of the world until now, or ever will happen. 22 And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
14. Luke 21:25-26. 25 “And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth nations will be in distress, anxious over the roaring of the sea and the surging waves. 26 People will be fainting from fear and from the expectation of what is coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
15. 1 Thes 5:3. Now when they are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape.
16. Rev 3:10. Because you have kept my admonition to endure steadfastly, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come on the whole world to test those who live on the earth.17.
17. Rev 6:15-17. 15 Then the kings of the earth, the very important people, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?”
B. From the above Scriptures, it is inescapable that the nature or character of this period is that of wrath (Zeph 1:15, 18; 1 Thes 1:10; Rev 6:16-17; 11:18; 14:10, 19; 15:1, 7; 16:1, 19), judgment (Rev 14:7; 15:4; 16:5, 7; 19:2), indignation (Isa 26:20-21; 34:1-3), trial (Rev 3:10), trouble (Jer 30:7; Zeph 1:14-15; Dan 12:1), destruction (Joel 1:15; 1 Thes 5:3), darkness (Joel 2:2; Amos 5:18; Zeph 1:14-18) desolation (Dan 9:27; Zeph 1:14-15), overturning (Isa 24:1-4, 19-21), punishment (Isa 24:20-21). No passage can be found to alleviate to any degree whatsoever the severity of this time that shall come upon the earth.
II. Key Scripture Examinations.
A. Isa 2:19. See Rev 6:15, which vividly describes the desperate actions of people in the coming tribulation.
B. Isa 24:1-13. The coming judgment will be on the entire earth (v. 1, 4), on all classes of people (v. 2), and will remove all pleasures (vv. 6, 13). Only a small remnant will survive (vv. 6, 13).
C. Isa 24:1. The section (chaps. 24-27), that begins here, deals with judgments of the tribulation period and blessings of the millennial age.
D. Jer 30:7. the time of Jacob’s distress. The coming days of tribulation that will come upon all Israel (Jacob).
E. Dan 9:3-19. In Dan 9:3-19, Daniel’s prayer associated himself with the sins of his people 12 times. He approaches God on the basis of His loyal love in His covenant with Israel (v. 4), confesses their sins (vv. 5-10), acknowledges their deserved judgment (vv. 11-14), and supplicates God for His mercy (vv. 15-19).
F. Dan 9:27. The prince of verse 26, the antichrist previously introduced in 7:8, 24-26,who will make a pact with many (of the Jewish people) at the beginning of the tribulation period. But, in the middle of the week (i.e., 3 1/2 years later), antichrist will break his covenant and desecrate the Temple by demanding worship of himself in it. See notes on Matt 24:15 and 2 Thes 2:4. At Christ’s second coming, antichrist and his false prophet will be cast into the lake of fire (Rev 19:20).
G. Dan 12:1. at that time. The time of the events of 11:36-45, the Great Tribulation. Michael. See note on 10:13. such as never occurred. Jesus’ words in Matt 24:21.
H. Joel 1:15. the day of the Lord. The major theme of this prophecy, involves God’s special intervention in the affairs of human history. This eschatological “day” includes the time of the Tribulation (Isa 2:12-19; 4:1), the second coming of Christ (Joel 2:30-32), and the Millennium (Isa 4:2; 12; 19:23-25; Jer 30:7-9).
I. Joel 2:1-2. The locust army is regarded as a foretaste of an invading army in the day of the Lord (v. 1); i.e., in the tribulation period.
J. Amos 5:18-20. They thought the day of the Lord would bring judgment only on their enemies, little realizing that it would also include them.
K. Rev 3:10 . I will keep you from the hour of testing. A promise that believers will be delivered from the time of Tribulation that will come upon the entire earth (Mat 24:14-21). See note on 1 Thes 4:16-17.
III. Point Summary.
A. Jeremiah 30:7 points directly to Israel as being the object of the coming Tribulation. Daniel 9:27 points to the event that will bring about the Tribulation, which is the antichrist making a covenant with Israel. Daniel’s prayer in 9:3-19, is further conclusive evidence that it is the nation of Israel for which God’s Tribulation judgments are directed. The church has no purpose for being in the Tribulation, and is never addressed in Scripture as being a party to God’s judgments of the end times.
B. Even with the problems that have been addressed with Israel, there are scriptures that show the strength of relationship that exists between God and the Jews.
1.Deu 14:2. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. He has chosen you to be his people, prized above all others on the face of the earth.
2. Jer 31:3. In a faraway land the Lord will manifest himself to them. He will say to them, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love.‘ That is why I have continued to be faithful to you.
3. Zech 2:8. For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: “For his own glory he has sent me to the nations that plundered you—for anyone who touches you touches the pupil of his eye.
4. Matt 24:22. And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
C. The comment on Matt 24:22 by The Moody Bible Commentary, shows God’s love for the Jews as Israel is about to be decimated at the end of the Tribulation. “The experience of believing Israel is in view here, not that of the Church.”
IV. References.
A. Paragraph I. Things To Come, Zondervan, 1958, J. Dwight Pentecost, Th.D., pgs 233-235.
B. Paragraph II, Ryrie Study Bible, The Moody Bible Institute, 1960, Charles C. Ryrie, Ph.D.
C. Paragraph III. C., The Moody Bible Commentary, The Moody Bible Institute, 2014, pgs 1500-1501, Michael G. Vanlaningham, Ph.D.
D. Scriptures in this article are from the New English Translation Bible. The scriptures were pasted from BibleGateway.com
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