Dennis Edwards
Nelson, you are getting closer, but still not hitting the mark. First, we need to understand that the Great Tribulation is not the whole 7 year period. The signing of the global covenant begins the last 7 year period. Since the Jewish people are allowed to begin sacrificial worship as a result of the covenant, and since the Palestinians and other Arab nations would not allow the Jewish people such freedom on the Temple Mount; many Bible scholars have proposed or speculated that the covenant will some how temporarily solve the Palestine problem.
For the Jewish people to accept a two-state solution, they would need to receive a substantial reward or prize for the undertaking. That prize could be the allowing the Jewish people to begin once again sacrificial temple worship on the Temple Mount. They have not been able to perform that sacrifice since the destroying of Herod's Temple in 70 AD by the Roman forces. The Temple Institute in Jerusalem is ready for such a day with all the ceremonial apparatus. The red heifers are ready. The priests are ready. Even the material for a Temple is believed to be ready for construction.
When the covenant is signed by many according to Daniel 9:27, the last 7 years will begin. "He, (the Antichrist) shall confirm the covenant with many (the United Nations?) for one week." The word "week" has been translated from the Hebrew word for seven. In Genesis 29:27, we see that the "week" or seven that Laban was demanding of Jacob as dowry for Rachel was "yet seven other years."
However, the Great Tribulation is not the whole 7 year period. According to Jesus in Matthew 24:15 and 21-22, the Great Tribulation starts when the abomination is set up in the Holy Place. "When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (Whosoever reads. let him understand)...For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, (they have been shortened to three and a half years), there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake (the true believers) those days shall be shortened."
The Church fathers believed the "holy place" would be in Jerusalem on the Holy Mount in a new temple and that 2 Thessalonians 2:4 would be fulfilled in Jerusalem. It is at the midst of the week, or half way through the 7 year period that the abomination is placed according to Daniel 9:27. "And in the midst of the week he (the Antichrist) shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate." At the same time could be when the antichrist stands in the temple "showing himself that he is God.," 2 Thessalonians 2:4. "Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."
The Great Tribulation consists of that 3 and 1/2 year period of the second half of the last seven year period. It will be 1,260 days, or 42 months, or time, times, and half of times according to other prophecies in the Scriptures. Daniel 7:25 "a time and times and the dividing of time." Daniel 9:27 "and in the midst of the week," (or 7 year period which would be 3 and 1/2 years). Daniel 12:7 "it shall be for a time, times, and an half." Revelation 12:14 "for a time, and times, and half a time." Revelation 11:2-3 "forty and two month," and "a thousand two hundred and threescore days." Revelation 13:5 "forty and two months." Seven times God tells us the length of the Great Tribulation period.
Jesus comes back "immediately after the tribulation of those days" according to Matthew 24:29-31. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the sun shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. 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. 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."
In the book of Revelation 8:6 we read, "And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound." The Great Tribulation consists of the seven trumpets found in chapters 8-10 which pour out a one-third destruction upon the earth. According to 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, the rapture takes place at the last trumpet. "Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." The last trump or trumpet is the seventh trumpet of the tribulation and is found in Revelation 10:7. "But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he has declared to his servants the prophets." Apostle John had wanted to tell us more about it, but was not allowed to write it down.
The same imagery is found in Thessalonians 4:16-17, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." We see the trumpet sounding and the rapture taking place.
In Matthew 24:31 we have read, "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." Again we see the trumpet sounding and the angels going forth to gather the elect in the Rapture. Revelation 11:15 seems to be showing the same event, "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and He shall reign for ever and ever." The "Hallelujah chorus" seems to be referring to that mystery which was finished at the seventh trumpet and Paul said would happen at the last trump, which is in fact the seventh. that mystery is nothing more than the Rapture event.
The 2,300 days of Daniel 8:13-14 consist of the period of sacrificial worship of the Jewish people on the Temple Mount, plus the amount of time the abomination shall stand, after it is placed there at the beginning of the Great Tribulation period. "Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spoke, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."
We note that it stands 30 days longer than the tribulation period according to Daniel 12:11. "And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days." The abomination stands for 1,290 days, while the tribulation last only 1,260 days. We can deduce then, that the abomination is not removed at the end of the 3 and 1/2 year tribulation period when the rapture occurs, but 30 days after. Why would that be?
The 30 days difference between the time of the Rapture and time of the return of Christ at the Battle of Armageddon could be when the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is taking place in the heavenly realm. The Marriage Supper is found in Revelation 19:7-9. "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints."
Jesus alludes to a marriage feast in both Matthew 22:1-14 and Matthew 25:1-13. In Matthew 22:8, "the wedding was ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy." The king, therefore, says to his servants , "Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage," Matthew 22:9. When the king later goes into the wedding feats, "he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: and he said unto him, Friend, how did you come in hither not having a wedding garment? And the man was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into out darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen," Matthew 22:11-14.
Only those who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb and have received the righteousness which is through faith and obedience to Jesus will be allowed into the wedding supper of the Lamb. Our wedding garment is the righteousness we have received through Jesus' atoning death and resurrection, and our belief and obedience to Him. In Matthew 25:1-13 is the parable of the 5 wise virgins and the 5 foolish virgins. Only the 5 wise virgins who had oil in their lamps get into the marriage festival with the bridegroom. Only those who had been ready by their obedience and vigilance will get raised in the Rapture and enjoy the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
At the time of the Rapture, the wedding supper takes place in the heavenly realm, while on earth the 75 days of the Wrath of God begins. The raptured saints go to receive their rewards and celebrate and then prepare for the invasion of earth at Armageddon some 30 days later. Daniel 12:2-3, may be describing the Rapture and Marriage Supper, also. "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the star for ever and ever." Proverbs 11:30 confirms that, "The fruit of the righteous is the tree of life, and he that wins souls is wise."
At the Rapture Jesus does not land on the earth, but sends His angels to collect His elect from the earth. Jesus lands on the earth some 30 days later during the Battle of Armageddon. The landing of Jesus on earth in Jerusalem is seen in Zechariah 14:4. "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south."
Armageddon occurs during the Wrath of God, a short 75 days of fury which God will reign upon the wicked, after His elect have been raptured away. Revelation 16 contains the general information about the short Wrath period where the angels pour out the Vials or Bowels of the Wrath of God on the wicked and unbelieving followers of the Antichrist. Revelation 16:1, "And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials (or bowels) of the Wrath of God upon the earth."
1.260 days plus 75 days gives us the days found in Daniel 12:13, which says, "Blessed is he that waits, and comes to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days." In other words, those human beings who live through that horrendous period of the Wrath of God will be blessed as they will live on into the Millennium period. The Millennium will bring a complete transformation of life on earth. Men's life cycles will be longer. Animals will be passive and nothing shall hurt or destroy in all His holy mountain.
"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox: And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea," Isaiah 11:6-9.
Christ will rule with the help of His saints for a 1,000 years giving mankind, those who survived the terrible Great Tribulation and Wrath of God, even more time to come to faith in Jesus. "Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection (or Rapture): on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years," Revelation 20:6.
God has told us, "He will do nothing, but He reveal His secrets unto His servants the prophets," Amos 3:7. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit also would lead and guide us into all truth and show us things to come. I do not believe that God wants us to be ignorant of what is coming. He had Noah prepare and He wants us to be prepared as best we can. A good study of God's Word shows that we need to be diligently and faithfully obeying Jesus until He returns. Our obedience will bring the Holy Spirit upon our lives and help to open up the Scriptures to our understanding.
If you would like contact me, you can write me at dennismedwards@gmail.com. Thank you. Any further input or suggestion are appreciated.
To read another post which goes through these ideas see the following link:
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