To begin to identify the"great tribulation," we must know the characteristics attributed to it by Jesus. Anything that does not meet the requirements of the prophecy can then be rejected, and those events that appear to measure up can be scrutinized carefully to see if they are, indeed, fulfillments.
From Matthew twenty-four, we learn that the "great tribulation" is preceded by wars and rumors of wars, nation rising up against nation, kingdom against kingdom, famines, earthquakes in various places, persecutions of the disciples of Jesus; then the Bible says many shall stumble, many false prophets shall arise and deceive many, and then the "abomination of desolation" heralds the beginning of the "great tribulation."
All these events which precede it are the identifying marks or characteristics. By the use of Scripture, we have already learned that the "great tribulation" is clearly identified in the Bible (Luke 21:21-24) as the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem with its people, the Jews. This narrows the "great tribulation" down to Judea, alone.
There will be some objections raised to this, which we will deal with at the appropriate time.
The prophecy of Jesus, recorded in Luke 19:41-44, said that Jerusalem would be leveled to the ground, and in Matthew 23:37-38 and 24:1-2, it says that their house (the temple) would be left desolate, not one stone upon another that would not be thrown down.
Since the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple is vital to the recognition of the "great tribulation," we need to have some knowledge of the history of Jerusalem, particularly as it relates to the temple. This will help us to narrow down the possibilities of fulfillment. The more information we have on anything, the greater our accuracy in identifying it.
If you are beginning to think that you know what
I am going to say, and are saying to yourself, I've heard this before,
I ask you to continue to read, you may hear facts that you have never heard.
Long before the first temple was destroyed (sometime between 742 and 701 B.C.), Isaiah the prophet foretold that Jerusalem and the temple would be built. He said: "That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built; and to the temple, thy foundation shall be laid." Isaiah 44:28. He called King Cyrus by name generations before he was born. (Also see Isaiah 45:13).
The first temple was still standing at the time of this prophecy, so Isaiah was actually foretelling that the temple would be destroyed, then rebuilt. Jeremiah prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and the captivity of the Jews for seventy years. (Jeremiah 25:1-12).
In fulfillment of that prophecy, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia, took Jerusalem about 605 B.C. The temple was destroyed in 587 B.C., by the Babylonians, and the city and temple lay desolate.
Cyrus, king of Persia (just as Isaiah had predicted) conquered Babylonia and in the year 538 B.C. (as recorded in Ezra chapter one), gave the order to rebuild the temple and the city. The task fell to Zerubbabel. Cyrus let the Jews return to their country about 536 B.C. The rebuilding of the temple began, but the work was soon interrupted.
In the year 521 B.C., Daniel sought the Lord, confessing
both his sins and those of his countrymen, and the Lord sent Gabriel to
him.
God gave these instructions to Ezekiel, and it
appears that such a principle of a day-for-a-year may also apply to some
of the prophecies of Daniel.
If it is true, as many scholars believe, that the
day-for-a-year principle applies to prophecies other than those of Ezekiel,
then the seventy weeks (490 days) of Daniel 9:24 could really be four hundred
and ninety years. The seven weeks (49 days) of Daniel 9:25 would then equal
forty-nine years, and the threescore and two weeks (434 days) could equal
four hundred and thirty-four years.
Added together, the seven weeks and sixty-two
weeks would equal four hundred and eighty-three "prophetic" years. The
remaining seven days (or years) of the four hundred and ninety, stated
in Daniel 9:26, will be discussed as we get further along.
I am not trying to build a case upon an assumption
that the day-for-a-year principle is absolute, but as we continue, it will
be easy to see that the time-table does indeed match with the predictions,
if we assume that principle to be valid.
If these figures are correct, the Messiah would come on the scene four hundred and eighty-three years from 457 B.C., which calculates out to A.D. 27 (there is no zero year in going from B.C. to A.D.) A.D. 27 is about the date of the baptism of Jesus, when He began to be about thirty years of age. Luke 3:23.
We are told that there could be an error in our present day calendar of as much as seven years or as little as three years, depending on who you listen to. Some have stated that Jesus was probably born between 6 B.C. and 3 B.C. If this is true, then in A.D. 27, He could have been thirty years of age, the customary age for the anointing for ministry according to the tradition.
Let me substantiate the dating of the four hundred
and eighty-three years from 457 B.C.
Gabriel, in telling Daniel of the events to come,
gave a reference point for the beginning of the fulfillment of his prophecy,
the decree to rebuild Jerusalem.
In addition to the decree of Cyrus, already mentioned, two other decrees followed before the temple was completely restored; the decree of Darius in 519 B.C., and the decree of Artaxerxes in 457 B.C.
Notice that the decree of Cyrus (538 B.C.) predates
the visit of Gabriel to Daniel (521 B.C.).
The question arises here as to which of these
decrees Gabriel referred in his prediction of the coming of Messiah.
This dilemma is solved by Ezra 6:14, a Scripture
in which all three decrees are named and said to be "the commandment of
the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius
and Artaxerxes king of Persia."
It appears that the three are to be considered as one. After all, it was the commandment of God(a single commandment) issued by three kings at different times. So it appears that we should date the commandment at the last instance, or 457 B.C.
As we have already indicated, four hundred and eighty-three years after that decree, Jesus, the Messiah, was anointed for ministry at His baptism, as the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and remained, and as God spoke, saying: "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Matthew 3:17.
Gabriel continued: "the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times." Daniel 9:25. Nehemiah 4:17 tells us that the men who built the walls worked with one hand and defended themselves with the other. Their enemies were trying to prevent the reconstruction. Those were "troublous times."
The prophecy, given to Daniel by Gabriel, further states that the Messiah would be cut-off. "And after threescore and two weeks, shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself; and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary: and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined." Daniel 9:26.
It is imperative for us to see that, in this prophecy in Daniel to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple, following its first destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, there is also a prophecy of a second destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the people of the prince who was to come, after the coming of Messiah.
It specified that both the city and the sanctuary would be destroyed. The reference to a "flood" (Daniel 9:26) is interesting in light of a paragraph in the book JERUSALEM, by Kathleen M. Kenyon, which we will discuss later. It is specifically predicting a sudden war of desolation upon Jerusalem. Similar language is used by Daniel in Chapter 11:22, ". . . with the arm of a flood. . . ," and 11:26, ". . . and his army shall overflow." Both Scriptures mention water, but speak of war.
Notice that in Daniel 9:26, Gabriel said after the threescore and two weeks, Messiah would be cut off. He explains this further: "And he [Messiah] shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: [seven prophetic years] and in the midst of the week [halfway through the seven years] he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it [the temple] desolate, even until the consummation [a completion], and that determined [the destruction of Jerusalem] shall be poured upon the desolate." Daniel 9:27.
A footnote in the NIV Bible says: "And one who
causes desolation will come upon the pinnacle of the abominable temple,
until the end that is decreed is poured out on the desolated city."
This "week," which came after the seven weeks
and threescore and two weeks [a total of sixty-nine weeks] was the seventieth
week of Daniel 9:24. "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people...."
Using the day-for-a-year principle, we can see in this last verse, the
prediction of a seven year period of time in which the Messiah [Jesus]
confirms the covenant [salvation by grace through faith] with many.
Most dispensationalists insist that the seventieth week of Daniel is separated from the other sixty-nine weeks by the period of time from the Messiah to the "great tribulation," and they say the "great tribulation" will be a seven year period, yet future. They believe that Daniel 9:27 describes, not Christ, but Antichrist, who they say, will make a covenant with many and then break it after three and one-half years, and a worse tribulation is then said to follow.
I am one of the many who disagree with such doctrine, simply because there is no Scriptural evidence for such a separation, none at all.
Notice that in Daniel 9:27, the one referred to confirms "the" covenant. It is not the making of "a" covenant, but the "confirming" of "the" covenant. This one also causes the sacrifice to cease. This is exactly what Jesus did when He became the sacrificed lamb on the cross at Golgotha. God confirmed this by tearing the temple veil from top to bottom, (Matthew 27:51).
The sacrifices made thereafter had no value whatsoever. The Jews did continue to offer sacrifices until about forty years later, when God caused them to cease because of scarcity of animals. There has been no reinstitution of animal sacrifice by the Jews since that time, because there is no temple.
At this point, we know that Gabriel predicted the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple, then the coming of Messiah, followed by the second destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, after Messiah is cut off. Add to this the prophecy in Daniel 12:11, where Daniel spoke of the "abomination that maketh desolate." This appears to be the Scripture to which Jesus referred when He said: "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoso readeth, let him understand:) then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains." Matthew 24:15-16.
Daniel also, two other times (Daniel 8:13 and 11:31), prophesied concerning "transgression of desolation" and the "abomination that maketh desolate." If you examine these Scriptures very carefully, it becomes obvious that they are not the same as Daniel 12:22. For starters, Daniel 8:13-14 specifies a time of 2300 evenings and mornings, and seems to be the same as Daniel 11:31, listing a sequence of rulers, culminating in Daniel 11:31.
This continuous line, as history witnesses, ends
with Antiochus Ephiphanes (Described in various Bible commentaries). Antiochus
profaned the temple, setting up pagan worship there and interrupting the
daily sacrifice for 2300 days. These were literal days, because the prophecy
in Daniel 8:13-14 specified evenings and mornings as in the days
of the creation in Genesis chapter one. If you believe that the creation
was literal days, then you have to accept Daniel 8:13-14 as literal days.
On the other hand, Daniel 12:11-12 speaks of 1290
days (taken literally, three years and seven months) and 1335 days (literally
three years and eight months).
The Hebrew word used here was the word for "days," not evenings and mornings. These could be literal days, or prophetic years. I relate these at this time merely to contrast the number of days in Daniel 8:13-14 with the number in Daniel 12:11-12 to show that they are not the same, and that the "abomination that maketh desolate" occurs more than one time.
When Jesus made His reference to it, the desecration
by Antiochus Ephiphanes was already long past, so Jesus necessarily
spoke of the later time of the "abomination of desolation" (in Daniel 12:11-12).
A minority of Bible scholars do not accept the
desecration of the temple by Antiochus Ephiphanes as the fulfillment of
the 2300 days prophecy. Although it seems right to me, that is not the
case in point here.
We can see from Matthew 24:15, that the "great tribulation" was to be the fulfilling of the prophecy of Daniel concerning the "abomination of desolation." And from Luke 21:20, we know that the desolation would be administered by armies surrounding Jerusalem. Because this prophecy in Daniel runs continuously from the first desolation, through the rebuilding of the temple and the city, the coming of Messiah and on to the second destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, we must consider this second destruction in our quest to find the actual fulfillment of the "great tribulation."
Since the time that Gabriel visited Daniel, recorded in Daniel, Chapter 9, and since Jesus prophesied this desolation, there has been only one destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem. That was in A.D. 70. The temple has not been rebuilt since that time. As we have already seen, this second desolation of the temple and city was prophesied to occur after the cutting off of the Messiah.
Jesus was crucified in about A.D. 30, after three and one-half years of His ministry, and the second destruction of the temple and city followed within that generation, about thirty-eight to forty years afterwards, in A.D. 70. Jesus foretold this desolation and called it "great tribulation." Matthew 24:21).
At this point, we will begin to correlate the prophecies
of the Olivet discourse with the actual historical events which occurred
between the resurrection of Christ and the desolation of Jerusalem and
the temple in A.D. 70. We will see if these events fulfill the predictions
Jesus made.
His prophecies had required all these things to
be fulfilled in that generation. A generation is considered
to be forty years based on the forty years the children of Israel wandered
in the wilderness until a generation died off. If we are to believe Jesus,
we must look for fulfillments to come before that generation passed
away. We will cover, later, what Jesus meant by "This Generation."