Section III - The Great Tribulation

The Great Tribulation

"Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, there shall not be left here one stone on another that shall not be thrown down." Matt. 24:2

"Do you not see these great buildings?" Mark 13:2.

"As for these things which you are looking at..." Luke 21:6.

"Truly I say to you, this generation shall not pass away until all these things be fulfilled." Matt. 24:34

Scene on the Arch of Titus, showing the Roman army carrying off the Table of Showbread, Candelabra, and Silver Trumpets after destroying the Temple in A.D. 70.

"“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! . . . Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation." (Matt. 23:29,34-36)

Dispensationalists and others see the Great Tribulation of Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 as a future event for us. However, Jesus told His disciples that it would occur within a generation (40 years) from their time (about A.D. 30) and involved the destruction of the Temple and other buildings then standing (not a rebuilt temple thousands of years later). It is a historical fact that Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed in A.D. 70 by the Roman army. The destruction of the Temple and the dispersion of the Jews from Israel effectively ended the Old Testament religion and released the Church from any ties to it.^{^[1]}

Judgment against Jews of that generation for rejecting Messiah

Malachi 4 ____________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Matt. 3 ______________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Matt. 8:10-13 _________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Matt. 11:20-24 ________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Matt. 12:38-45 ________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Matt. 21:28-22:14 (v.7 with Lev. 21:9) _____________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Matt. 23:35-36 ________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Matt. 24:2 (see Luke 19:45-46, Lev. 14:33-47) ______________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Matt. 24:34 __________________________________________________________________________

Matt. 27:25 __________________________________________________________________________

Luke 13:1-5 ("you shall likewise perish^{^[2]} __________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Luke 13:6-9 (with Matt. 21:18-22) ________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Luke 19:41-44 ________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Luke 21:31-32,36 ______________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Luke 23:28-31 ________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Romans 2:9 __________________________________________________________________________

1 Thess. 2:14-16 ______________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

The Last Days

Dispensationalists say that the "Last Days" are the last days of the Church before a future Great Tribulation. But the New Testament authors clearly say that they were living in the Last Days in the first century. Paul warned Timothy of the apostasy that he would have to deal with in those days, and indeed had already begun (1 Tim. 1). When John writes, "the last hour" had already come because many antichrists were appearing. The temple was to be destroyed in A.D. 70. Thus it was the last days of the Old Testament dispensation. It closed a major chapter in the history of the world and God's manner of dealing with Man. The sacrificial system and the unique status of Israel as "God's Country," established by God Himself in awesome display on Mt. Sinai, was being ended forever.

Hebrews 1:2 __________________________________________________________________________

James 5:3,8,9 _________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

1 Peter 1:5,20 _________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

1 Peter 4:7,17 _________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

1 John 2:18; 4:3 (2 John 7-11) ____________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

1 Timothy 4:1-3 _______________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

(Acts 20:28-31; 1 Tim. 1:3-7, 19-20)

2 Timothy 3:1-8 _______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Jude 3,4,18 ___________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Acts 2:16-17 _________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Isaiah 2:2-4 (with Heb. 1:2, 12:22-24) _____________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

2 Peter 3:3 ___________________________________________________________________________

(See "2 Peter 3," below, about "coming" in 2 Peter 3:10.)

A 1st Century Coming

Contrary to the understanding of some, "coming" does not always refer to the bodily return of Christ. It can refer to a coming in judgment or blessing to an individual, church, or nation in the midst of history. Since Christ now rules at the right hand of the Father, shattering rebellious nations with a rod of iron (Psalm 2), the context of a particular passage must determine whether the coming refers to a judgement of Christ in the midst of history or to His bodily coming at the Last Judgement. This is sometimes challenging because judgments upon nations in the midst of history borrow the language of cosmic catastrophe from the Last Judgment. This difficulty of determining the reference of the coming to a mid-history or end-history in certain cases, however, does not undermine preterism (or postmillennialism), if it is granted that Scripture teaches that there are both types of comings.

Comings in the midst of history:^{^[3]}

To establish the Kingdom at His first advent:

Matt. 16:28 __________________________________________________________________________

In the person of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost:

John 14:16-18, 28 _____________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

In the death of the believer:

John 14:3 ____________________________________________________________________________

In fellowship with the repentant and obedient believer:

Rev. 3:20 ____________________________________________________________________________

John 14:21-23 ________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

When believers worship together:

Matt. 18:20 __________________________________________________________________________

Upon churches:

Rev. 2:5, 16 __________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Upon nations (before the Last Judgment):

Dan. 2:21 ____________________________________________________________________________

Dan. 7:13,22 _________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Isaiah 19:1 ___________________________________________________________________________

Micah 1:3 ____________________________________________________________________________

Nahum 1:3 ___________________________________________________________________________

Lights Out for the Ungodly

God's judgement against a nation and its government leaders is often described symbolically as the collapse of heavenly bodies. Even Dispensationalist Charles H. Dyer says, "Such imagery, then indicates that the God of the heavens (the Creator of the sun, moon, and stars) is moving in judgment against a nation (blotting out their light). When a national government collapses in war and upheavel, it is often poetically portrayed as a cosmic catastrophe - an undoing of Creation..^{^[4]}

Genesis 1:14-18 ("signs" which "govern") __________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Genesis 37:9-10 _______________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Judges 5:19-20 ________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Isaiah 13:9-10 ________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Isaiah 34:4 ___________________________________________________________________________

Ezekiel 32:7-8 ________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Joel 2:28-31 __________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

A 1st Century Coming

Malachi 4:5-6 _________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Matt. 10:23 __________________________________________________________________________

Matt. 16:28 (Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27) ________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Rev. 1:1,3; 2:16,25; 3:3,10,11; 22:7,10 _____________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Matt. 24:34 __________________________________________________________________________

Luke 21:31,32,36 ______________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Luke 22:67-69 ________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Matt. 26:64 __________________________________________________________________________

Dan. 7:13 ____________________________________________________________________________

1 Cor. 16:22 _________________________________________________________________________

Maranatha is Aramaic for 'Come, O Lord' and was a common expression of greeting, encouragement, and triumph among first-century Christians.

Matthew 24

Here I have listed each of the predictions (in bold) that Jesus made about what would happen in the Great Tribulation as they were stated in Matthew 24, and after each one I have given the confirmation from Scripture itself that the predictions were fulfilled in the first century.

False Prophets (vs. 5,10,11,23-26):

Acts 5:34-39 _________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Acts 8:9-11 __________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Acts 13:6 ____________________________________________________________________________

Acts 21:38 ___________________________________________________________________________

1 John 2:18-19, 26, 4:1-3________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Jude 3-4 _____________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Rev. 2:2, 14-15, 20, 3:9 _________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

2 Tim. 1:15, 4:10, 14-16 ________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

2 Cor. 11:13-15 _______________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Famines (v. 7):

Acts 11:27-30 ________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

They will kill you (v. 9):

Acts 7:54-60 _________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Acts 12:1-3 __________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Rev. 2:13 ____________________________________________________________________________

(All the apostles were martyred except John.)

Lawlessness is increased^{^[5]} (v. 12):

Matt. 12:43-45 ________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Gospel Preached to Whole World (oikoumene - 'inhabited earth' or 'Roman Empire') (v. 14):

Luke 2:1 (oikoumene) __________________________________________________________________

Col. 1:6, 23 __________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Rom. 1:8 ____________________________________________________________________________

Acts 2:5 _____________________________________________________________________________

Abomination of Desolation^{^[6]} (v. 15):

Dan. 9:24-27 (See diagram below) _____________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Rev. 11:1-3 __________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Luke 21:24 ___________________________________________________________________________

Flee to the mountains (v.16)

Luke 21:20-21 ________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

As a matter of historical record, Christians did flee Jerusalem prior to the slaughter by Roman armies in A.D. 70 (see "Historical Witness of God's Vengeance against Israel", below).

With child and nurse babes (v.19):

Luke 23:27-31 ("yourselves" and "your children") ___________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

What is Our Goal Before Christ Returns?

Preach to all Nations or Disciple all Nations?

Many Christians today say that they have optimism about the success of the Church's mission because they believe that the gospel will be preached to all nations before Christ returns. They base this on Matthew 24:14. But notice that this was fulfilled before A.D. 70! (See above) Modern Christians have greatly underestimated the Church's mission. We are not just to preach to all nations, but to disciple all nations, teaching them to obey everything that Christ has commanded (Matt. 28:18-20). Discipleship, of course, takes much longer than just winning converts. Furthermore, we are to disciple the nations. The Greek word refers to the entire culture.^{^[7]} Every area of life is to glorify God. Our mission is to work for the transformation of every institution - family, church, and civil government - so that they serve and obey the King of kings. God is with us (Matt 28:20). We can do it. We will do it!