What is the End Times Tribulation? | GotQuestions.org

Today's question is, what is the tribulation? How do we know the tribulation will last seven years?

In this video I'll answer that question from a biblical perspective. Afterwards, as always,

I'll share some helpful resources, so stick around until the end. The tribulation is a future, seven -year period of time when

God will finish His discipline of Israel and finalize His judgment of the unbelieving world.

The church, made up of all who have trusted in the person and work of the Lord Jesus to save them from being punished for sin, will not be present during the tribulation.

The church will be removed from the earth in an event known as the Rapture, 1 Corinthians 15, verses 51 -53.

The church is saved from the wrath to come, 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 9. Throughout Scripture, the tribulation is referred to by other names, such as the

Day of the Lord, Isaiah 2, verse 12, trouble, or tribulation,

Zephaniah 1, verse 1. The Great Tribulation, which refers to the more intense second half of the seven -year period,

Matthew 24, verse 21. Time or Day of Trouble, Daniel 12, verse 1, and Time of Jacob's Trouble, Jeremiah 30, verse 7.

An understanding of Daniel 9, verses 24 -27 is necessary to understand the purpose and time of the tribulation.

This passage speaks of 70 weeks that have been declared against your people.

Daniel's people are the Jews, the nation of Israel. And Daniel 9, verse 24 speaks of a period of time that God has given to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the

Most Holy. God declares that seventy -sevens will fulfill all these things.

This is seventy -sevens of years, or 490 years. Some translations refer to 70 weeks of years.

This is confirmed by another part of this passage in Daniel. In verses 25 and 26,

Daniel is told that the Messiah would be cut off after seventy -sevenths and sixty -two -sevenths, that is, 69 total, beginning with the decree to rebuild

Jerusalem. In other words, 69 sevenths of years, or 483 years, after the decree to rebuild

Jerusalem, the Messiah would be cut off. Biblical historians confirm that 483 years passed from the time of the decree to rebuild

Jerusalem to the time when Jesus was crucified. Most Christian scholars, regardless of their views of eschatology, the study of future things or events, have the above understanding of Daniel's seventy -sevens.

With 483 years having passed from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to the cutting off of the

Messiah, this leaves one seven -year period to be fulfilled in terms of Daniel 9, verse 24, to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the

Most Holy. This final seven -year period is known as the Tribulation Period. It is the time when

God finishes judging Israel for its sin. Daniel 9, verse 27, gives a few highlights of the seven -year tribulation period.

He will confirm a covenant with many for one seven. In the middle of the seven, He will put an end to sacrifice and offering, and on a wing of the temple

He will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on Him.

The person of whom this verse speaks is the person Jesus calls the abomination that causes desolation,

Matthew 24, verse 15, and is called the beast, in Revelation 13.

Daniel 9, verse 27, says that the beast will make a covenant for seven years, but in the middle of this week, that is, three and a half years into the tribulation,

He will break the covenant, putting a stop to sacrifice. Revelation 13 explains that the beast will place an image of himself in the temple and require the world to worship him.

Revelation 13, verse 5, says that this will go on for 42 months, which is three and a half years.

Since Daniel 9, verse 27, says that this will happen in the middle of the week and Revelation 13, verse 5, says that the beast will do this for a period of 42 months, it is easy to see that the total length of time is 84 months, or seven years.

Also see Daniel 7, verse 25, where the time, times and half a time, time equals one year, times equals two years, and half a time equals a half year, for a total of three and a half years, also refers to the great tribulation, the last half of the seven -year tribulation period when the beast will be in power.

For further references about the tribulation, see Revelation 11, verses 2–3, which speaks of 1 ,260 days and 42 months, and Daniel 12, verses 11–12, which speaks of 1 ,290 days and 1 ,335 days.

These days have a reference to the midpoint of the tribulation. The additional days in Daniel 12 may include the time at the end for the judgment of the nations,

Matthew 25, verses 31–46, and time for the setting up of Christ's millennial kingdom,

Revelation 20, verses 4–6. In summary, the tribulation is the seven -year time period in the end times in which humanity's decadence and depravity will reach its fullness, with God judging accordingly.

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