How Short is Shortened? – The Secret!
Dennis Edwards
In the last chapter I mentioned that Jesus has shortened the days of Tribulation to 3 and ½ years. How do we know that? What about the secret rapture?
Isn’t there a secret rapture for the saved Christians sometimes during or at the beginning of the Tribulation before it really gets bad? Isn’t that what Jesus meant when he said he was going to shorten the days of Tribulation? God wouldn’t let us suffer, would He?
Well, let’s read what Apostle Peter wrote about suffering.
If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.[1] Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator.[2]
So as Christians, suffering should not be something we are not prepared for. Apostle Paul said,
All that live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.[3]
Jesus Himself said,
If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.[4]
If we are not prepared to suffer for our faith, what kind of believers are we?
(In the above chart the bottom purple arrow with "7-Year Tribulation! should read "Last 7 Years." The tribulation according to Matthew 24:15&21 and Daniel 9:27 starts in the middle of the last 7-year period, or as written in Daniel "in the midst of the week." The week is actually translated from the Hebrew word for seven. Genesis 29:18&27-28 show that the word "week" is used to mean a 7-year period.)
Now let’s get back to the shortened days. Yes, Jesus said He would shorten the days of Tribulation and He has. He has shortened them and He has let us know in His revelation to John in the book of Revelation that the Great Tribulation period will be 3 and ½ years. How do we know this? The prophecies in Revelation show us that the Tribulation period will be 3 and ½ years. Five times 3 and ½ years, or its equivalent, is mentioned in Jesus’ prophecy to Apostle John within a three chapter spread.
1. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they (the Antichrist forces) tread under foot forty and two months. (3 and ½ years)[5]
In the above verse in Revelation 11 we see that the Antichrist forces will be in control for 42 months.
2. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. (3 and ½ years)[6]
Here we see that the two end-time witnesses will prophesize for 1260 days against the Antichrist world government.
3. And the woman (the church in Tribulation) fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. (3 and ½ years)[7]
4. And when the dragon (the devil) saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman (the church) which brought forth the man child. And to the woman (the church) were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time (1), and times (2), and half a time (½), from the face of the serpent. (3 and ½ years)[8]
The above verses from Revelation 12 show the persecution of God’s people during the Tribulation period will be for 1260 days, or time, times, and half a time; which is again the 3 and ½ year period. Notice that the Jews had a 360-day year based on 12 lunar months, each month having between 29-30 days. They added extra days periodically to realign the lunar-year with the solar-year.
5. And there was given unto him (the Antichrist) a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given him to continue forty and two months. (3 and ½ years) ... And it was given unto him (the Antichrist) to make war with the saints (God’s people, the church), and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.[9]
Revelation 13 is from the perspective of the Antichrist government which implements the computer-chip implant and enforces its dictates over the world and God’s people for 42 months.
In all the verses mentioned above the numbers are equivalent to 3 and ½ years, therefore we know the Great Tribulation will be 3 and ½ years long. Each time Jesus is talking about the same time period, the Great Tribulation, from a slightly different viewpoint.
In conclusion we see that Revelation 11, 12, and 13 are all talking about the same events, but each from a slightly different perspective. They are not in chronological order. They are the same event from different perspectives. The 3 and ½ year period is repeated by Jesus over and over again because He doesn’t want us to miss it. He wants us to get the point. The prophecies of Daniel even confirm and reinforce this viewpoint where we see the Antichrist persecuting God’s people for the same 3 and ½ year period.
And he (the Antichrist) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints (the church in Tribulation) of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they (God’s people, the church in Tribulation) shall be given into his (the Antichrist’s) hand until a time (1) and times (2) and the dividing of time (½). (3 and ½ years)[10]
The following verses show the persecution element like we find in Revelation and elsewhere.
And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (the Antichrist) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power (Satan’s power): and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty (the USA?) and the holy people (God’s people in Tribulation).[11]
In Daniel 12 we see the Great Tribulation period mentioned along with 3 and ½ years.
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time (the Great Tribulation): and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.[12] (The second part of the verse is an illusion to the rapture which will happen soon afterwards when the Great Tribulation is over.)
(Please ignore the purple arrow with "7 Year Tribulation." As noted earlier it should read "Last 7 Years." At the end of the tribulation, before the Millennium starts, we will have the 75 days of the Wrath of God. It is not included on the chart.)
And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and swore by him that lives for ever that it shall be for a time (1), times (2) and an half (½); and when he (the Antichrist) shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. (3 and ½ years)[13]
I am sorry, I don’t want to get too deeply into this subject at the moment. I have already given you quite a bit to think about and study. In the sequel to this book we can look at this period in more detail. But because some churches are teaching the idea that Christ will shortened the days of Tribulation and will secretly rapture the believing Christians out before the really bad stuff happens, I have had to clarify this point.
NO! A shortening of the days cannot be confirmed by scriptural. It’s a false idea. It’s wishful thinking and is contrary to the overall picture presented by Christ and his disciples in the New Testament and in the prophecies of Daniel and other prophets in the Old Testament. The shortened days are the 3 and ½ year period mentioned over and over again in the scripture. The truth is that there is no secret rapture. That’s the secret.
Here’s a very brief outline. The first stage is the period of the “signs of the times” which Jesus, Paul, John and Peter talked of before the rising of the Antichrist. Many of these prophecies have been fulfilled or are being further fulfilled in today’s world.
The second stage is the rise of the Antichrist and the one-world government coming peaceably into power. It may be that an intermediate stage consists of a banking or economic crash that ushers in the one-world government, or accelerates its implementation.
At some point, the third stage, Antichrist will confirm a seven year agreement with many, called in the scripture the Holy Covenant. It may have to do with the Middle East Crisis as many Bible scholars believe it will give the Jewish nation the permission to build the Third Temple on the Temple Mount which we have talked about earlier. The Temple Institute in Jerusalem is preparing for such an event. With the building of the Temple, the Jews will renew prayer and sacrificial worship on the Temple Mount, something they have not done since 70 AD, almost 1950 years ago.
Now we will look at a prophecy from Daniel 8 about the length of the period of Jewish sacrificial worship together with the period of the Great Tribulation.
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 (the Great Tribulation), to give both, the sanctuary and the host (God’s people, the church of true believers) to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.[14]
In the above prophecy of Daniel we learn that the period of prayer and sacrifice plus the period of the “transgressions of desolation,” or what Jesus referred to as the Great Tribulation period, will together be a total of two thousand and three hundred days.
We know that the tribulation period will be only one thousand two hundred and sixty days, as we have seen in the five references in Revelation. Therefore, all we need to do is subtract the 1260 days from the 2300 days to find out how many days of prayer and sacrifice will take place. The 1040 day figure we arrive at is the period of prayer and sacrifice by the Jewish and other religious officials on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. These prayers and sacrifices take place before the Tribulation and start some 220 days after the Holy Covenant has been signed. The tribulation starts when the Antichrist breaks the covenant and stops the religious service in Jerusalem and declares himself world dictator.
(Since writing the above some years ago, I have seen that Daniel 12:11 indicates that the abomination of desolation shall stand for 1,290 days, 30 days longer than the tribulation period. That could mean that that the abomination stays in the Holy Place until Jesus comes back in the Battle of Armageddon found in Revelation 19 some 30 days after the Rapture. That could indicate that during that 30 period, the raptured saints are enjoying the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and receiving their rewards before returning with Christ in that supernatural battle.)
I will go over it once again. The covenant is signed giving the Israelis permission to rebuild their Temple on the Temple Mount. The rebuilding takes them some 220-250 days or little more than seven or eight months to get done as much has been already prepared for by the Temple Institute and possibly the Israeli government. However, if the Temple isn’t finished, the sacrifice will start anyway, perhaps in some sort of tent, like the Jewish people did before the first Temple was built. The sacrifice and prayers will be performed for 1040 days. Then the Antichrist will stop the sacrifice and prayers and stand in the Temple declaring himself authoritarian world ruler. This is the sign that the Great Tribulation has begun and will happen in the middle of the seven-year peace covenant which is the “midst of the week” spoken of by Daniel the prophet. (If we use the 1,290 days instead of 1,260 days as I did when I wrote this post, we would come up with 250 days for rebuilding and 1,010 days for the sacrifice.)
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate.[15]
The word “week” in the above verse comes from the Hebrew word “shabuah” which means seven. It is used in Genesis in the history of Jacob with his father-in-law Laban.[16] Jacob wants to marry Laban’s beautiful younger daughter Rachel and agrees to work seven years as dowry payment. However, the night of the marriage, his father-in-law Laban, unbeknownst to Jacob, gives him his older daughter Leah instead. Jacob wakes up in the morning and lo and behold he’s been sleeping with the wrong woman. His father-in-law assures him that giving away the youngest daughter before the oldest is against the custom of his culture. If Jacob works another seven years for the younger daughter, he can have her also:
Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve me yet seven other years. [17]
The King James translators show here that the word translated as “week” is actually signifying a seven year period.
Resuming again we see that at the midst of the seven-year period, the Antichrist breaks the covenant or peace agreement and tries to initiate a totalitarian world government with himself as ruler.
The covenant, which he initiated and signed some 3 and ½ years earlier, seems to give the Israeli nation permission to rebuild their Temple on the Temple Mount. At the signing of the Covenant, the Antichrist may already be President of a cooperative One-World government, as he is already a person of authority. In Revelation 17 we see that there are ten political leaders or nations or regions who give their allegiance to the beast, who is the Antichrist.
The ten horns which thou saw are ten kings,…These have one mind, and give their power and strength unto the beast.[18]
We know these “nations” will cooperate with the Antichrist to “make war with the Lamb.”[19] Since the Christians are the people of the Lamb, they are the ones who the Antichrist makes war against. We have seen this over and over again in the Bible verses we have looked at from both Revelation and Daniel. The beast and the ten nations or regions he controls will also
hate the whore,[20] that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth[21] and (together) burn her with fire.[22]
Could this be the destruction of America by some pre-emptive strike? It remains to be seen. But at present, America seems to fit the bill of Babylon the Whore better than any nation on the face of the earth, even though her influence has been worldwide.
When the Antichrist breaks the peace agreement or Holy Covenant, the Great Tribulation begins. In his breaking of the Covenant he has had to invade the Middle East which results in a major world war as the nations or regions of the world line up for or against him.
In the areas he controls, he initiates mandatory computer chip implants, or vaccines, or some new technology which enables him to monitor via 5G the whereabouts and identity of most of humanity, if not all. The technology is called "the mark of the beast" in the book of Revelation. At that point the Antichrist, like other demigods before him, will stop all religious worship other than worship of himself.
He may very well use some type of explosive device like the Electromagnetic Pulse or EMP to put America out of action, as has recently been made popular in the book One Second After.[23] Those who refuse to accept the "mark of the beast" computer chip implant will be persecuted and considered enemies of the state, hunted down, captured, forced to accept the implant or be killed.
The Tribulation will last 1260 days, 42 months, or time, times and half a time; a 3 and ½ year period. The woman, the believing church of Revelation 12, tries to hide or escape to isolated areas to prevent capture and forced computer implants or death. The two end-time witnesses of Revelation 11 prophesize for the 1260 days of Tribulation and are finally killed at the very end in Jerusalem.[24] Their dead bodies are left unburied. But after 3 days and ½, they come back to life, stand upon their feet, and are raptured into heaven at the rapture event that Jesus promised.[25]
Remember, the rapture event will occur “immediately after the tribulation.”
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him (the rapture event), that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that day of Christ is at hand (or could happen at any moment or secretly).
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (the rapture-our gathering together unto the Lord) shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition (the Antichrist); 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.[26]
Immediately after the Tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars 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 (the rapture event using the same words Paul uses in 2Thessalonians 2) his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.[27]
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 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.[28]
Those waiting for a secret rapture will be sadly surprised. It will not happen. There is no secret rapture. Neither is there a rapture for the Christians before nor during the Tribulation and then a later one for the saved Jews after the Tribulation. There is only one rapture event at this time and it comes at the end of the Tribulation after the Antichrist has been revealed and has persecuted the saints for 42 months as Revelation 11, 12 and 13 indicate. The rapture is for all true believers in Jesus Christ whatever their former faith or lack of faith may have been.
So in conclusion, we see that the Antichrist will persecute God’s people and anyone else who refuses to cooperate with him for 3 and ½ years, the second half of the last seven years. Then, “immediately after the tribulation of those days,” the rapture event will take place.[29]
While God’s children will be enjoying the marriage supper of the Lamb in the spiritual dimension,[30] the thirty to seventy-five days of the wrath of God will be poured out on earth on the wicked in God’s attempt to bring them to change.[31] The wrath culminates at the Battle of Armageddon where the Antichrist and Satan will be defeated by Christ at his physical return.
And the beast (the Antichrist) was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.[32]
At that point Jesus will bring peace on earth for a thousand year period.
And he (the angel) laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.[33]
So, as you can see, as I have said before, Jesus’ promised return is the only hope for mankind today.
But, how can these things be? Didn’t Jesus say
that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.[34]
And Apostle Paul said,
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.[35]
Yes, it’s true, we do not know at this time the hour or the day. But when the time comes, if we are diligent servants, we will not be in darkness. We will know the times and the seasons. Paul reminds us right after the above verse:
For when they say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.[36]
Even when Jesus said that no one knew the hour or day, he followed with:
But as the days of Noah were, so shall also of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.[37]
The unbelieving world was caught unawares, while Noah knew what was about to happen and had prepared at God’s command a way of escape.
Knowing God’s will, found in His Word, can give us discernment and can enlighten our eyes. We no longer walk in darkness, but have the light of life. God’s Spirit will also lead us into all truth, just as He said it would.
We will take a more in depth look at the prophecies in Revelation and Daniel in the sequel to Where is America in Bible Prophecy?
To go to the previous chapter click HERE To go to the next chapter click HERE To go to the index of chapters for the book click HERE
Notes:
[1] 1Peter 4:14
[2] 1Peter 4:16-19
[3] 2Timothy 3:12
[4] John 15:20
[5] Revelation 11:2
[6] Revelation 11:3
[7] Revelation 12:6
[8] Revelation 12:13-14
[9] Revelation 13:5-7
[10] Daniel 7:25
[11] Daniel 8:23-24
[12] Daniel 12:1
[13] Daniel 12:13
[14] Daniel 8:13-14
[15] Daniel 9:27
[16] Genesis 29:16-30
[17] Genesis 29:27
[18] Revelation 17:11-12
[19] Revelation 17:14
[20] Revelation 17:16
[21] Revelation 17:18
[22] Revelation 17:16
[23] W. R. Forstchen, One Second After, Tom Doherty Ass., NY, 2009.
[24] Revelation 11:8
[25] Revelation 11:11-12
[26] 2Thessalonians 2:1-4
[27] Matthew 24:29-31
[28] 1Thessalonians 4:16-18
[29] Matthew 24:29
[30] Revelation 19:1-9
[31] Revelation 16:1-16
[32] Revelation 19:20
[33] Revelation 20:2-4
[34] Matthew 24:36
[35] 1Thessalonians 5:2
[36] 1Thessalonians 5:3-5
[37] Matthew 24:37-39
