The Great Tribulation

Alright, well today we are going to talk about end-time prophecy. And we're going to look to the Bible to see what it says specifically about the final days leading up to the Great Tribulation and Christ's return. That period just before Christ's return, Jesus Christ does call that period the Great Tribulation.

And it's in those days leading up to the Great Tribulation that it is so important and so crucial for God's people to feel confident about, for God's people to feel secure in what is going to happen and have an understanding of what to expect during that time.

So we're going to talk about those days today leading up to the Great Tribulation because there are markers. There are time markers that are given to God's people to look for in that time leading up to it. And God gives us these markers just so that we can feel confident and we can have an awareness and understanding. So let's begin to look at this. Let's turn with me to Matthew 24 in verse 3.

Matthew 24 in verse 3. This term, Great Tribulation, again, that term comes directly from Jesus Christ and the Olivet Prophecy here. So let's see this. This is Matthew 24, and we'll begin reading in verse 3. So this is Jesus Christ here, it says, Now as He set on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, So this is Jesus Christ speaking to His own here, Tell us when these things will be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age. So let's stop there for a moment. So Jesus here is listening to their question, and He begins to answer them in verses 4 through 14 here, and He begins to speak about religious deception. He speaks about wars and earthly calamities and persecution that will come upon God's people toward the end time here. So let's pick back up here in verse 15. And Jesus Christ begins to speak specifically about those final days leading up to the Great Tribulation. And you'll notice that He mentions here a specific time marker for us to look at, and it's called the Abomination of Desolation. This will occur right before the Great Tribulation begins. So verse 15 through 22.

Verse 16. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop do not go down and take anything out of the house. And let him who is in the field do not go back to even get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and those who are nursing babies in those days, and pray that your flight might not be in the winter or on the Sabbath. And then verse 21 here. Why do we respond in that way when we see this Abomination of Desolation occur? Verse 21.

So this passage here, these words that Jesus Christ is speaking to his disciples, are extremely important to us. As it says here in verse 15, when you see this occurrence, when you see this Abomination of Desolation, you as God's people, you better get moving, he says. He says, let him understand. You need to flee if you see this. If you're in Judea, flee to the mountains. Don't go back. Don't even go back to the house. Don't take anything out of the house.

Get going. This is your flight time. And if you are pregnant, well, it's going to be difficult, he says. And pray that this flight is not in the winter or on the Sabbath. And so again, why do God's people need to move immediately when they see this Abomination? Verse 21, as we read, it says, For then there shall be great tribulation, such as not been or ever been since the beginning of the world, until this time. This is it.

This will occur at the beginning of the Tribulation. And that Tribulation period that will last three and a half years, this will be the beginning here, a marker for the end time. And Christ says, again, when you see that Abomination of Desolation, the Great Tribulation is now going to begin. And so we have, again, what we could call this time marker here. This Abomination of Desolation refers to God's temple being defiled. It's the occurrence that happens in God's temple where an evil figure, an evil one, will stand and sit in the holy place, someone who does not represent God, but just the opposite.

And it's this evil figure. He won't make sacrifices to God. He will actually make defiled sacrifices. And so this Abomination occurs here. It's an Abomination that will make God's sacred temple, His sacred sanctuary, defiled and desolate. And so, again, we see this as an occurrence that happens right before the Great Tribulation begins. And so this should stir us. Reading Jesus Christ's words here, it's just stir us as God's people to learn everything we can about this final period leading up to the Great Tribulation so that we can learn about this and have an awareness, a clear understanding in those end days.

And if you notice here, Jesus Christ referred to Daniel's words there in verse 15. He says, spoken by the prophet, the prophet, the Daniel. So this tells us that we can go to the book of Daniel and see more about what Daniel says regarding this time leading up to the Great Tribulation. So that's what we're going to do today. We're going to go to the book of Daniel, and we're going to see this abomination time marker some more.

But we will also see not only just this abomination time marker, we're going to see other markers that happen, other markers that are revealed to us. And so I hope you find this as fascinating as I do. So let's begin. Let's turn over to Daniel chapter 8. Daniel chapter 8 and review here. We'll see what was just mentioned, the abomination, and we'll see another time marker here revealed. So Daniel 8, and we'll start there in verse 11. But before we get to this, we get to reading.

Let me set the stage here a little bit. The key to understanding prophecy is the principle of duality. Prophecies can have more than one fulfillment. That means that a prophecy can play out, can occur with men at a certain time in history. But it can also then point to a time that will play out and occur in the future, a fulfillment that has yet not come to pass.

And so that is the case here. We'll see this duality here in Daniel 8. So we're going to first review the initial fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy here and look at it from that point of view, what's already happened in history. And then we'll go back and look at it from the time that will be fulfilled in the future. And we will also see here in a moment this other time marker.

So let's pick up here. Daniel 8, verse 11-12. He says, verse 11, He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of Host, and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. Because of transgression, an army was given over to the Horn to oppose the daily sacrifices, and he cast truth down to the ground, and he did all this and prospered. Let's stop there. So again, this is very interesting because it does have duality in its fulfillment here in prophecy. So here is speaking of an evil one, an evil leader that would come and would exalt himself as high as that of the Prince of Host.

So who is the Prince of Host? Well, he is the one who would become Jesus Christ himself, the Prince who will come to rule this earth. So this man now exalts himself to the level of Jesus Christ. So let's talk about this initial fulfillment of this duality. After Alexander the Great led the Grecian kingdom, he died, and there were four generals that took over the Grecian empire after he died, and it was divided into these four parts.

And this horn here that's referred to in the scripture is a king that came from one of those parts. And his name was Antiochus Epiphanes. This was a king that this horn refers to here in verses 12. And he actually did this in history. He exalted himself to being God, and he sat in the temple at that time. Antiochus would serve as a prototype of the little horn that would come and was referred to in the next empire to come after the Grecian empire, which was the Roman empire.

But Antiochus Epiphanes was an evil ruler, and he was the initial fulfillment of this end-time prophecy. He was a Syrian leader who came into Jerusalem and overtook Jerusalem, applied incredible persecution to the Jews, took over the temple, and defiled it. First, he took away the daily sacrifices, as it mentions here, that the Jews were performing. He defiled the temple. He actually sat upon the altar an idol of Jupiter Olympus there. And not only did that, but he performed these heathen rites.

He sacrificed swine's blood there in the temple at that time. So it was quite an abomination in the sight of God. And so God's temple at that time was made desolate when this occurred in this first fulfillment. So again, Antiochus Epiphanes stopped. He took away the daily sacrifices by the Jews. He performed his own filthy sacrifices of unclean animals in the temple. And he put this idol of Jupiter Olympus there in the very altar. Such a great abomination to God, so much so that Antiochus did not last much longer after he performed this.

He developed a very painful disease and died within just a few years after carrying this out to this abomination. But there is duality in these verses. And Antiochus, again, was just a type, a forerunner of the beast and the false prophet that will come in the end time just prior to the Great Tribulation. There is still this yet major fulfillment, another abomination of desolation that will occur in the end time.

And it will be carried out by the beast and the false prophet. So let's read this again, verses 11 and 12. But we'll also read verses 13 and 14 again. But we want to read it from the perspective now of this future fulfillment. And we're going to see another marker here, another time marker mentioned in verse 14. So let's read this again, of the future fulfillment that will come.

Verse 14. And he said to me, And so verse 13 and 14 here really move this prophecy to the future fulfillment. Verse 13 Daniel records, Very likely, we don't know for sure. So this is speculation. Very likely, though, this is not just a couple of angels speaking here. This could be the one, the Logos, speaking to the greater one, the Father, asking the Father here in verse 13, when will these things occur? When will the daily sacrifices be put away? When will his sanctuary, the temple, be cast down? Verse 13. How long will this vision be concerning these daily sacrifices in this transgression to desolation? How long will this period be? Remember, Jesus Christ himself said, No one knows except the Father. The Father knows the time. And so if this is the Father responding here, He answers in verse 14 and says, this time marker for this period of time. So important verse here for us to have an awareness of, because this is a time marker of prophecy to unfold. So verse 14 says, and he said to me, for two thousand three hundred days, then the sanctuary shall be cleansed. So again, this is an incredible prophecy and it reveals this marker of 2300 days. This period will begin with the daily sacrifices beginning. And during this period, the sacrifices are taken away. The desolation occurs, the abomination. And finally, then the temple is cleansed. So we have this time period of days here from the time that the daily sacrifices begin to when they're taken away, defilement occurs, and then the temple is finally cleansed. The future fulfillment, the end of this period spoken of here, will be when the temple is finally cleansed once and for all, when Jesus Christ returns, it will finally be cleansed. Not only the temple, but the whole world, the whole world, the whole earth will be cleansed at the fulfillment of this end time prophecy. All right, I need a PowerPoint. This will work, though. All right. So let's again read this about these 2300 days here, where the evil one is allowed to reign before the final ultimate cleansing. So verse 11 through 14.

The daily sacrifice Jesus will be, the Jews will be making at that time to oppose the daily sacrifice, and he cast down, cast truth down to the earth. And he did all this and prospered. And then I heard a Holy One speaking to another Holy One. Could be Jesus Christ speaking to God. That the certain one who was speaking said, how long will this vision be concerning these daily sacrifices and the transgression of the desolation, this period? The giving of both the sanctuary, the temple, and the host being trampled underfoot. And he said to me, for 2300 days, then the sanctuary shall be cleansed. So at the end time, the temple will be rebuilt. The sacrifices will begin. The evil one is allowed authority for this period of time. And then at the end of these days, Jesus Christ will return. And the temple and the whole world, the whole earth will be cleansed at that time. We don't yet see a third temple built in Jerusalem, but these two verses show us that in the end time, a third temple will be built, and the Jews will begin their sacrifices again. And when we see those sacrifices then, it gives God's people an awareness. It gives God's people an awareness of this time marker. When the sacrifices begin, God's people can begin to have an awareness and have an expectation then of Christ's return at the end of those days. Let's go read further here in Daniel and look at verses 15-17 as it spells out that this vision does refer to the end time here. Verse 15-17.

Then it happened when I, Daniel, had seen this vision and was seeking meaning, there suddenly stood over me one having appearance of a man. And I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Uli and called and said, Gabriel, make this man understand this vision. So he came near where I stood, and when he came, I was afraid and fell on my face. But he said to me, understand, son of man, that this vision refers to the time of the end. So this is a notable time marker, we could say, this 2,300-day time marker of when the daily sacrifices begin. So let's ask, will it be exactly 2,300 days from when the Jews began their sacrificing to the time of Christ's return?

The United Church of God commentary is very insightful on this and gives a few possible scenarios for us to consider, for God's people to consider concerning Daniel 8, verse 14, in these 2,300 days.

The word for days in the 2,300 days, it literally is translated evening and mornings. So 2,300 evening and mornings. So it could refer to 2,300 24-hour days. It could refer to that.

And so that would be 2,300 morning sacrifices and 2,300 evening sacrifices. Or the commentary points out, the UCG commentary points out, that it could be 1150 mornings and 1150 evenings.

So that would total 2,300 as well. So that would, that consideration would shorten the period of time versus it being actual 2,300 24-hour days. So this period beginning with the Jewish sacrifices to begin to that time when Christ returns and the cleansing of the temple, it could play out in these couple of scenarios.

Either way, either way, the key is, the key is this awareness gives God's people absolute confidence during this period of time. Confidence in a time that our confidence is going to be shaken, absolutely shaken. It will be tested.

And so for us to have an awareness of this prophecy that Jesus Christ spoke about there in Matthew 24 and in Daniel reveals, it can give us just that, the confidence that we'll need at that time. But it gets even more interesting. There are some other time markers revealed that occur within these end time days. Other markers that give us additional confidence and know what to look for in these end of days. So turn with me a few chapters forward to Daniel 12 and verse 11 and 12. Daniel 12 and verse 11 and 12.

The next two major events or time markers that will happen in this period, we will see that one happens at a 1335 day mark and another happens at a 1290 day mark. All right. Let's read about these two markers now. So Daniel chapter 12 and verse 11 and 12. And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be 1290 days. Blessed is he who waits and comes to the 1335 days. So we see those two time markers mentioned here in these two verses. So what do we see here? These are two more time markers occurring during this period of days from when the sacrifices begin. And remember, this is all counting down to and leading us to the Christ's return and the final cleansing of this earth. So first, let's talk about this blessing to God's people that's mentioned here in verse 12 here. Verse 12, blessed is he who waits and comes to the 1335 days before the final cleansing of the temple. So this speaks of a blessing to that person that comes to the 1335 days. A blessing to God's people. This is a time marker. If you see the sacrifices begin in the third temple after it's built, and you see the Jews beginning to sacrifice at that 2300 days mark, you can expect a blessing to occur at the 1335-day mark. God's people can absolutely expect a blessing, a special blessing, here before Christ's return. Possibly. We don't know. We don't know what this blessing is. It does not say what this blessing is. But possibly, it could have involved information given about the place of safety. We know in Revelation that it details that God's church will be given information and be taken to a place of safety to be protected and nourished from the evil one at that time. The church will be nourished during that period of time. What better blessing could come at a time marker like this before Christ's return? But that is absolute speculation. So we don't know what this blessing is. It does not say. But either way, God's people will most certainly need a blessing at this time because, verse 11 gives us our next time marker. Verse 11 again. And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. So this is the abomination of desolation and the sacrifices taken away.

Abomination of desolation and the sacrifices are taken away. So 45 days after the blessing comes to God's people, 45 days we are at this 1,290-day mark where the abomination will be set up and the sacrifice is taken away.

This final abomination, as we spoke about where the beast and the false prophet will exalt themselves as God. So it seems like we have 45 days from the blessing before this abomination occurs. And I think we'll need that blessing. We'll absolutely need a blessing, whatever it is.

Because if you remember, Jesus Christ spoke about in Matthew 24 at that Olivet prophecy. He said, when you see that abomination of desolation, you better flee. You better flee. So here, Daniel tells us the abomination will occur at the 1,290-day mark before Christ's return.

After this abomination occurs in the temple where the beast and the false prophet sit in the very throne and exalt themselves as the prince, as Jesus Christ, things get really bad after that point. Because the Great Tribulation then begins. The Great Tribulation begins at the 1,260-day mark. The Great Tribulation is referred to as time, times, and half of times. So at 1,260-day mark, the Great Tribulation begins.

Time, times, and half of times. Let's read this. Go up to verse 7 here, staying in Daniel 12 and verse 7. Let's read about this Great Tribulation period.

Stop there. So time, times, and half of time. That is 1,260 days. A time refers to a year, and God's calendar is not like our calendar. Our calendar has 365 days. God's calendar has 360 days.

So if you have a time, 360, times, 360, 360, half of times, 180, well, it gets you at this point of the 1,260-day mark. And so again, the abomination of desolation occurs at the 1,290-day mark. And then the 3-and-a-half-year Tribulation period begins at the 1,260-day mark.

Reading there in verse 7 of this Great Tribulation period, in verse 7 it says, The power of the holy people has been completely shattered. All these things shall be finished. So that that 1,260 mark, again, it's going to be really bad. There are several places in the Bible that speak about this Great Tribulation period, this 3-and-a-half-year period, this 1,260-day period. Let's go to a few places of those. Turn with me to Revelation, if you will. Revelation 13 and verse 4. We're going to read a few Scriptures that speak about this Great Tribulation period here. Revelation 13 and verse 4 says, So they worshipped the dragon, who was given authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast? Who will make war with him? And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for 42 months. So that's 42 months, 3-and-a-half years before Christ returned this dragon. Satan the Devil will be given authority during this period of Great Tribulation. Go back a few chapters to Revelation 11 and verse 3. Revelation 11 and verse 3. The two witnesses come on the scene at this time, right around the period here where the Great Tribulation begins. Revelation 11 and verse 3. Let's see this. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy 1260 days clothed in sackcloth. So here mentioned is the 1260 days. Again, God's calendar is not 365 days like ours, but 360 days. So the 3-and-a-half year here, God's calendar is 1260 days. And it is going to be a horrible, horrible 3-and-a-half years there. But referring to this time of this Great Tribulation period, God does give his people incredible comfort. And we spoke about it briefly earlier. And again, it might be this blessing that occurs at the 1335 mark. But turn forward one chapter to Revelation 12 and verse 13 and 14. When the Great Tribulation begins, many of God's people will have already been taken to a place where they'll be protected and nourished. And this is incredibly comforting to read here. Revelation 12 and verse 13 and 14. Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. So incredible comfort there is there. So the authority will be given to the beast for these 42 months. The final two witnesses will be on the scene for the 1,260 days. In the Church, she will be taken to her place of safety to be nourished for that time, times, and half a time. It's all referring to those last 1,260 days, a three and a half year period there. So go down to verse 17 here. While this is a great comfort for us, that many people will be in the place of safety. Many of God's people will be in the place of safety. We also know that there is going to be a remnant left to experience the Great Tribulation for one reason or another. So go down to verse 17. Let's read this. This is important. Verse 17. When the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So the devil, the dragon, will go after those, and you see how they're identified. Those who keep the commandments, those who have the testimony or the evidence of Jesus Christ living in them. The dragon will certainly know who those individuals are. And this is a great admonishing for us as we think about how we will respond, where our confidence will be in these end times. Who is this remnant that has to experience the Great Tribulation? We don't know, but maybe.

It is some of those that didn't have the faith or the confidence to go to flee. Maybe they didn't heed Jesus Christ's advice. They held on to things. They went back to their house before fleeing. Maybe they're just in such fear. They won't have the faith to act upon directions given to God's people at that time. We don't know, but there will be a remnant that will be caught up in the Great Tribulation. So all these things that we have spoken about today should cause us to look at ourselves and make sure we're close to God.

At the end of the book of Daniel, Daniel's last words there in Daniel 12 and verse 13, we can turn there, Daniel 12 and verse 13. Daniel says that he doesn't understand this vision.

Lord, I don't understand. But then the Lord tells him this following here. Daniel 12 and verse 13, he says, After all these prophecies have been revealed to Daniel, But you go your way till the end, For you shall rest and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days. So all these days he's spoken of here, at the end of these days, God the Father knew, and Jesus Christ knows that Daniel would be sleeping. He would be in the grave awaiting the final resurrection at the end of these days that this prophecy spoke about. So Daniel was this instrument of God that God used in this prophecy. God chose him because he was obedient to God. And God through him gave this vital information. These vital time markers here revealed about the last days. But now Daniel rests until the first resurrection, until the end of these days, when he will rise to meet Jesus Christ. And it's interesting, here in the book of Daniel, Daniel writes in the language of Aramaic. There from Daniel 2, verse 4, he writes in Aramaic. But he returns to the Hebrew language, writing in Hebrew, starting with chapter 8, with these prophecies. So maybe Daniel was moved to change his writing when these prophecies were revealed to him, so that he wanted to make sure that his own people, the Jews and the Israelites, knew what he was speaking about here and had this understanding. And this book of Daniel and this prophecy specifically, it's been preserved for us today. And how remarkable it is that we have these things.

And if we don't see these things in our lifetime, our children will, those generations to follow us. So we need to teach them these things so they can have the confidence, so they can be aware what confidence it can be to have these type of markers revealed to us, that God educates us in this manner, so we can have an expectation of what is to come.

There will be a time coming when the Jews rebuild that third temple in Jerusalem. There will be a time coming that we can look for as things start to get bad for a blessing. There will be a time coming when the abomination of desolation occurs and those sacrifices are taken away. There is a time coming when the Great Tribulation begins.

But there is a time coming when the temple, once and for all, will be finally cleansed. And the whole world will be cleansed. It's an incredible time for us to look for and to prepare for. Let's thank God every day He does prepare His people in this way and gives us knowledge. And all the disciples taught of these things.

We'll conclude with some writings from Paul. It kind of is a good summary to all of this. Let's turn to 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 1. 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 1. Paul does, in a way, summarize the whole matter that we discussed. He gives an admonishment of what these things should cause in us, the reaction it should cause in us.

So let's read 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 1. It's not a long chapter, but we want to be able to hear God's voice very loudly at this end time and clearly be close to Him. He talks a little bit about that here. 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 1.

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in our gathering together to Him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by the word or by letter, as if from us as though the day of Christ has come. Let no one deceive you by any means, for the day will not come unless there is a falling away that comes first, and the man of sin is revealed and 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. Even Paul knew of these things. Do you not remember when I was still with you? I told you these things. And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time, for the mystery of the lawless one is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming.

Verse 9, the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. The lawless one is here now, and he's trying to keep us from this end time and being with God at this end time.

Verse 11, for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie. Get close to God now. You don't want to be one of those that is turned over to this delusion. Prepare now. We don't want to believe the lies that will be coming forth at this end time, that they all may be consumed that did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Verse 13, the title says, Stand fast.

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, God and our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts, establish you in every good word and work. So we're going to need consolation at the end. We're going to need comfort. We're going to need to read these words by Paul and review these things that Daniel wrote. And let these prophecies and let these things, just as Paul spoke about, move you to get closer to God. Analyze every work in your life. Analyze every work in your life so that that delusion doesn't come over you at the end, where you would believe the lie. Because we know that all this, that Jesus Christ will have victory in the end. And we can rise to meet him on that day.