CLEARING UP THE CONFUSION OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION
When is the great tribulation? Today countless books are published telling us of this subject. They tell us of future powers colliding and causing the greatest war ever and that an antiChrist would come in power and cause this terrible time upon all the jews and those believers in the last seven years. Is this what scripture teaches us on this event? Lets look at the passages and see what Jesus was telling us and warning the disciples about.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell us of this same event in time. Lets look at the passages.
Matthew 24:29-34
29Immediately 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:
30And 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.
31And 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.
32Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
33So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mark 13:24-26
24But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
25And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.
26And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
Luke 21:20-28
20And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
21Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.
22For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
23But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.
24And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
25And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
27And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
As we read these scriptures it would seem fair to accept what is being said today because of the one passage in all three of these versions by the three writers. Jesus would come on the clouds with power. We automatically assume this is the end of time and the events are happening to all the world. The problem however is a big one, or may I say many big ones.
As we look at the passages and the statements made leading up to these verses we find facts that put this is a different time period possibly.
In Matthew 24:34 it says all these things will pass to that generation. Twenty times this phrase is used in scripture and it always means the generation being talked about is the one living in that day. Dispensational and futurists try to claim that generation means all jews forever but the greek doesnt allow this translation nor the fact that the other scriptures also show otherwise.
Could this tribulation actually have already happened in the disciples day? Lets dig a little deeper.
In Matthew 23:35-36 Jesus makes a statement to the pharisees that all the judgement will be on them for all the prophets deaths which they had killed. He even says it again in the following verse that on that generation all the tribulation will come on them.
He then makes the statement that because of them not accepting him that they will be left desolate (verse 38). When Jesus went out of the temple the disciples followed him and asked him when would this happen.
Then Jesus gave them the warning. Many false Christs will come, nations will rise against nation, famines and earthquakes will be present, then they shall deliver you up and kill you. You will be hated. This gospel shall be preached in all the world then shall the end come.
As I looked at these verses I noticed one glaring thing; it was going to happen to them.
Scripture quotes the famines and earthquakes they had in their day and all these things were going to happen to them and they did.
You may say but wait; it says they would preach to all the world then the end would come. This has to be the end of time since surely the disciples didn't preach to the whole world.
The problem with this thinking is something you dont know unless you seek the answers. The word for world here in the greek is a world meaning the Roman world. It does not mean the whole earth as we know it. This is why many places in scripture is worded this way. In some places Paul claimed to have preached to the whole world to every creature. This is what Paul was meaning not the whole world as we would be thinking. The end being talked about here is the end of the tribulation or destruction of Jerusalem which happened in 70ad.
Now back to the passage about Jesus coming on the clouds. Jesus here is not talking about his second coming. What you may say. Thats right. Jesus here is doing what he always does; quotes old testament passages to show what he is fulfilling or meaning. Its how the jews knew what each other was saying. In these three passages Jesus is quoting Isaiah 19:1. It is a statement of Gods judgement that would come on his people. It was the end of the old covenant, its intended purpose. This is discussed in Daniel 9 when after the 69th week the temple would be destroyed by the people of the prince. Jesus was the prince and by him the people who would not accept Christ would be abolished and the city where the temple was. Then Daniel goes on to talk about the details of the 70th week. The abomination of desolation would happen then in their time as Jesus warned them in Matthew 24:15. When you will see the abomination spoken of in Daniel then let them flee to the mountains out of Judaea. Notice its not a world event but an event at Jerusalem.
Luke talks about when the army is around the city of Jerusalem then flee to the mountains. Again its an isolated battle. The judgement was to be upon the old covenant people of God who rejected Jesus. They were to be punished for this and for their generations past sins of rejecting the prophets.
Another stumbling block to this thinking you might say is the last statement we have to look at to make this a bullet proof doctrine. Its the statement of the sun and moon and stars being disrupted. This language is also old testament language used by Jesus here to convey a message.
Isaiah 13 uses this same language when talking about the destruction of Babylon. Jesus as he so often does uses this same language to describe judgement by destruction on a nation. God would use the Medes to destroy the Babylonians just as he used the Romans here to destroy the Jews of Jerusalem. Isaiah 13 even speaks of the women and children going through the tribulation as he does also in the Olivet discourse of Matthew 24.
There is just too many holes in the futuristic teachings of these passages to even remotely be accurate. The position of it being fulfilled in the disciples day is too evident by the words Jesus used and the directness he spoke with to his followers. Clearly they would be in that time of distress and the judgement was on that generation of people at that time in Jesus' day.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell us of this same event in time. Lets look at the passages.
Matthew 24:29-34
29Immediately 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:
30And 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.
31And 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.
32Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
33So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mark 13:24-26
24But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
25And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.
26And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
Luke 21:20-28
20And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
21Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.
22For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
23But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.
24And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
25And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
27And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
As we read these scriptures it would seem fair to accept what is being said today because of the one passage in all three of these versions by the three writers. Jesus would come on the clouds with power. We automatically assume this is the end of time and the events are happening to all the world. The problem however is a big one, or may I say many big ones.
As we look at the passages and the statements made leading up to these verses we find facts that put this is a different time period possibly.
In Matthew 24:34 it says all these things will pass to that generation. Twenty times this phrase is used in scripture and it always means the generation being talked about is the one living in that day. Dispensational and futurists try to claim that generation means all jews forever but the greek doesnt allow this translation nor the fact that the other scriptures also show otherwise.
Could this tribulation actually have already happened in the disciples day? Lets dig a little deeper.
In Matthew 23:35-36 Jesus makes a statement to the pharisees that all the judgement will be on them for all the prophets deaths which they had killed. He even says it again in the following verse that on that generation all the tribulation will come on them.
He then makes the statement that because of them not accepting him that they will be left desolate (verse 38). When Jesus went out of the temple the disciples followed him and asked him when would this happen.
Then Jesus gave them the warning. Many false Christs will come, nations will rise against nation, famines and earthquakes will be present, then they shall deliver you up and kill you. You will be hated. This gospel shall be preached in all the world then shall the end come.
As I looked at these verses I noticed one glaring thing; it was going to happen to them.
Scripture quotes the famines and earthquakes they had in their day and all these things were going to happen to them and they did.
You may say but wait; it says they would preach to all the world then the end would come. This has to be the end of time since surely the disciples didn't preach to the whole world.
The problem with this thinking is something you dont know unless you seek the answers. The word for world here in the greek is a world meaning the Roman world. It does not mean the whole earth as we know it. This is why many places in scripture is worded this way. In some places Paul claimed to have preached to the whole world to every creature. This is what Paul was meaning not the whole world as we would be thinking. The end being talked about here is the end of the tribulation or destruction of Jerusalem which happened in 70ad.
Now back to the passage about Jesus coming on the clouds. Jesus here is not talking about his second coming. What you may say. Thats right. Jesus here is doing what he always does; quotes old testament passages to show what he is fulfilling or meaning. Its how the jews knew what each other was saying. In these three passages Jesus is quoting Isaiah 19:1. It is a statement of Gods judgement that would come on his people. It was the end of the old covenant, its intended purpose. This is discussed in Daniel 9 when after the 69th week the temple would be destroyed by the people of the prince. Jesus was the prince and by him the people who would not accept Christ would be abolished and the city where the temple was. Then Daniel goes on to talk about the details of the 70th week. The abomination of desolation would happen then in their time as Jesus warned them in Matthew 24:15. When you will see the abomination spoken of in Daniel then let them flee to the mountains out of Judaea. Notice its not a world event but an event at Jerusalem.
Luke talks about when the army is around the city of Jerusalem then flee to the mountains. Again its an isolated battle. The judgement was to be upon the old covenant people of God who rejected Jesus. They were to be punished for this and for their generations past sins of rejecting the prophets.
Another stumbling block to this thinking you might say is the last statement we have to look at to make this a bullet proof doctrine. Its the statement of the sun and moon and stars being disrupted. This language is also old testament language used by Jesus here to convey a message.
Isaiah 13 uses this same language when talking about the destruction of Babylon. Jesus as he so often does uses this same language to describe judgement by destruction on a nation. God would use the Medes to destroy the Babylonians just as he used the Romans here to destroy the Jews of Jerusalem. Isaiah 13 even speaks of the women and children going through the tribulation as he does also in the Olivet discourse of Matthew 24.
There is just too many holes in the futuristic teachings of these passages to even remotely be accurate. The position of it being fulfilled in the disciples day is too evident by the words Jesus used and the directness he spoke with to his followers. Clearly they would be in that time of distress and the judgement was on that generation of people at that time in Jesus' day.
posted by Stacy at 10:39 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home