Article by: Kenneth J. Ester
Understanding the Tribulation
In the End Times, there will be a seven year tribulation. The problem is, the Bible never actually says that, so there are many who struggle to understand it. Like with plenty of other subjects however, just because the Bible doesn't come out and say it plainly, it does not mean it does not exist. The Holy Trinity and the Pre-Trib Rapture are much the same. I cannot find where the Bible plainly states either are correct, but as I have studied the Bible from an unbiased point of view, I found them to be right. So to help people understand the Seven year tribulation, I will break it down for them.
In Daniel 9:24-27 we have what is called the 70 Weeks Prophecy. The first thing you need to understand when reading these prophecies is that the word "week" is a faulty translation. The Hebrew word Daniel used is "Shavuim". It is an allotment of time that comes in sevens. It can be seven days, seven weeks, seven months or seven years. Because the only word we have in the English language that is a reference of time that comes in sevens is a "week", they used that word. The problem is in this case, Daniel was not referencing days, but years. One Shavuim would be seven years. Not seven days. So seventy weeks is not 490 days, but it is 490 years.
Within that prophecy, Daniel tells us that from the time when a creed is made to rebuild Jerusalem, until the Messiah is cut off is 7 weeks and 62 weeks. A total of 69 weeks. So we know the first 69 weeks (483 years) of the prophecy were completed when Jesus was crucified. That leaves us one week (7 years) that are unfulfilled. Daniel's 70th week, the last unfulfilled 7 years, is what Christianity refers to as the 7 years of tribulation. The Bible refers to is as Daniel's 70th week. We now refer to it as the tribulation.
This is Daniel's 70th week prophecy....
Daniel 9:26-27 (NASB)
26 Then after the sixty-two weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 27 And he will confirm a covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come the one who makes desolate, until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, gushes forth on the one who makes desolate.”
Verse 27 begins with "and he will confirm a covenant". The first key to this is understanding who "he" is. Many believe that this is the Messiah, but that is wrong. By simple standards in speaking, when one uses "he" they are referring to the last person they had specifically mentioned. In this case it is the prince who is to come. Now many believe that is speaking of Jesus in His second coming, but that is not possible. It clearly says the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city. The Jews are Jesus' people and it was not the Jews who destroyed the city. It was the Romans who destroyed it in 70 AD. So the prince who is to come must have Roman connection. This is not Jesus. This will be the false messiah. The antichrist.
The prince who is to come will confirm a covenant for one week (7 years), and in the middle of that week (3.5 years) he will put an end to sacrifices. Now let's take a look at what Paul says about this same event...
2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 (NASB)
1 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, 2 that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit, or a message, or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 No one is to deceive you in any way! For it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
The lawless one will walk into the Temple and take a seat, then claim to be God. How do we know that these are the same event? Jesus tells us...
Matthew 24:15-21 (NASB)
15 “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place—let the reader understand— 16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 17 Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get things out of his house. 18 And whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 19 But woe to those women who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 Moreover, pray that when you flee, it will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. 21 For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will again.
Jesus says that when the abomination of desolation which is spoken through Daniel, so we know it is Daniels 70th week prophecy He is speaking of here. Then He continues on to say when He is standing in the Holy place. So this now connects the event in Daniel to the event in 2 Thessalonians with the man of lawlessness entering the Holy Temple. We know from Daniel this happens at the middle of the 70th week. Yet Jesus then goes on to say that then there will be Great Tribulation unlike ever before or ever will be again. This will be the worst time of tribulation that the world will ever see.
So Christians today now refer to Daniels 70th week (7 years) as the Tribulation. Then after the midpoint of the tribulation when the antichrist takes a seat in the Temple and claims to be God, we enter into the second half of the tribulation. What Jesus refers to as the "Great Tribulation".
Basically the Tribulation is a period of 7 years that will begin with the antichrist confirming a covenant/treaty with many for a period of 7 years. In the middle of that 7 years, the antichrist will claim to be God. From that point on, it just gets worse until Jesus returns.
In Daniel 9:24-27 we have what is called the 70 Weeks Prophecy. The first thing you need to understand when reading these prophecies is that the word "week" is a faulty translation. The Hebrew word Daniel used is "Shavuim". It is an allotment of time that comes in sevens. It can be seven days, seven weeks, seven months or seven years. Because the only word we have in the English language that is a reference of time that comes in sevens is a "week", they used that word. The problem is in this case, Daniel was not referencing days, but years. One Shavuim would be seven years. Not seven days. So seventy weeks is not 490 days, but it is 490 years.
Within that prophecy, Daniel tells us that from the time when a creed is made to rebuild Jerusalem, until the Messiah is cut off is 7 weeks and 62 weeks. A total of 69 weeks. So we know the first 69 weeks (483 years) of the prophecy were completed when Jesus was crucified. That leaves us one week (7 years) that are unfulfilled. Daniel's 70th week, the last unfulfilled 7 years, is what Christianity refers to as the 7 years of tribulation. The Bible refers to is as Daniel's 70th week. We now refer to it as the tribulation.
This is Daniel's 70th week prophecy....
Daniel 9:26-27 (NASB)
26 Then after the sixty-two weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 27 And he will confirm a covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come the one who makes desolate, until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, gushes forth on the one who makes desolate.”
Verse 27 begins with "and he will confirm a covenant". The first key to this is understanding who "he" is. Many believe that this is the Messiah, but that is wrong. By simple standards in speaking, when one uses "he" they are referring to the last person they had specifically mentioned. In this case it is the prince who is to come. Now many believe that is speaking of Jesus in His second coming, but that is not possible. It clearly says the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city. The Jews are Jesus' people and it was not the Jews who destroyed the city. It was the Romans who destroyed it in 70 AD. So the prince who is to come must have Roman connection. This is not Jesus. This will be the false messiah. The antichrist.
The prince who is to come will confirm a covenant for one week (7 years), and in the middle of that week (3.5 years) he will put an end to sacrifices. Now let's take a look at what Paul says about this same event...
2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 (NASB)
1 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, 2 that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit, or a message, or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 No one is to deceive you in any way! For it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
The lawless one will walk into the Temple and take a seat, then claim to be God. How do we know that these are the same event? Jesus tells us...
Matthew 24:15-21 (NASB)
15 “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place—let the reader understand— 16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 17 Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get things out of his house. 18 And whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 19 But woe to those women who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 Moreover, pray that when you flee, it will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. 21 For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will again.
Jesus says that when the abomination of desolation which is spoken through Daniel, so we know it is Daniels 70th week prophecy He is speaking of here. Then He continues on to say when He is standing in the Holy place. So this now connects the event in Daniel to the event in 2 Thessalonians with the man of lawlessness entering the Holy Temple. We know from Daniel this happens at the middle of the 70th week. Yet Jesus then goes on to say that then there will be Great Tribulation unlike ever before or ever will be again. This will be the worst time of tribulation that the world will ever see.
So Christians today now refer to Daniels 70th week (7 years) as the Tribulation. Then after the midpoint of the tribulation when the antichrist takes a seat in the Temple and claims to be God, we enter into the second half of the tribulation. What Jesus refers to as the "Great Tribulation".
Basically the Tribulation is a period of 7 years that will begin with the antichrist confirming a covenant/treaty with many for a period of 7 years. In the middle of that 7 years, the antichrist will claim to be God. From that point on, it just gets worse until Jesus returns.
