Transcript Slide 1

THE GREAT TRIBULATION
Our text is from Revelation chapters 6 through 19
“WE STUDY THE END TIMES SO THAT WE
WILL LIVE EACH DAY AS IF IT IS OUR LAST”
Howard Buck
Dale told us that in his opinion, based on Biblical
passages and theological research that the
church (us) will be in heaven with the Lord
during the Tribulation period
That being the case, what is happening in the
earth during this 7 year period called the
Tribulation??
On the End Times chart, the “Tribulation” starts
after the Rapture of the church
The chaos caused by the sudden taking of the
church ushers in the final 7 year period known
as the Tribulation
Rapture – Tribulation – Millennium – New
Jerusalem
Today we look at the Tribulation and
Great Tribulation prophesies..
The time period called the Tribulation is divided
into 2 parts:
1. The Tribulation, 3 ½ years
2. The Great Tribulation, 3 ½ years
Sometimes the latter portion is called the
“wrath of God” or “the day of the Lord”..
To understand the “Great Tribulation”, let’s first check
out the things leading up to that time
We have discussed the “signs” provided to warn us of
the impending rapture and to hopefully cause others to
turn to Christ:
Israel becomes a state (Warren’s “great sign”)
The Jews begin to regain control of Jerusalem
wars, earthquakes famines, pestilence
And finally, the rapture of the church..
In the first 3 ½ years God will open the
“Seal Judgments” against the earth
First is the releasing of the Antichrist upon our earth
riding a white horse. White stands for the fact that he
will initially rise to power based on peace and
diplomacy (Rev. 6:1-2)
2: The second seal judgment we have the Antichrist
riding a red horse beginning to show the rest of the
world his true evil nature. He “takes peace from the
earth”…”people should kill one another” (Rev. 6:3-4)
3. Now on a black horse and as a result of the
wars and the killing occurring with seal 2, the
results are famine, disease, and food shortages
(Rev. 6:5-6)
4. Now on a pale horse, the pale color stands for
death! One fourth of the world’s population is
put to death. (Rev. 6: 7-8)
5. God allows the final Christian’s to be martyred
as were those crying out under the throne
(Rev. 6:9-11)
6. God causes a great and massive earthquake
to strike the earth, so severe that every
mountain and island is moved out of its place!
(Rev. 6:12-17)
7. Silence in heaven for a half an hour, the quiet
before the next round of judgments - the
Trumpet Judgments (Rev. 8:1-6)..
As mentioned, after the rapture there is a 3½ year
period called the Tribulation
Remember, the church is gone
As noted, the first event is the revealing of the
Antichrist and his profit
The Antichrist appears to put everything back in
order from the chaos of the rapture..
He is called antichrist four times in the NT:
1 John 2:18, 22, 4:3 and 2John 7
Anti = against (can also mean instead of)
Antichrist = against Christ
“Instead of” is the best understanding because although
against the real Christ, the antichrist actually claims to
be Christ ..
He is also known as:
The prince who is to come
Daniel 9:26
A fierce king
Daniel 8:23
A master of intrigue
Daniel 11:21
A despicable man
Daniel 11:21
A worthless shepherd
Zechariah 11:16-17
The one who brings destruction 2 Thessalonians 2:3
The lawless one
2 Thessalonians 2:8
The evil man
2 Thessalonians 2:9
The beast
Revelation 13:1
Among other names
How will they know the
Antichrist?
So, prior to the Great Tribulation we have:
The Rapture
The revealing of the Antichrist
A peace treaty for Israel (Dan 9:27)
The rebuilding of the Temple
Continuing “birth pang” signs
The breaking of the peace treaty (Isaiah 28:18)
The battle of Gog..
Ushering in the “Great Tribulation”:
When the peace treaty is broken
Isaiah 28:18
“Your covenant with death will be canceled,
And your pact with Sheol will not stand;
When the overwhelming scourge passes through,
Then you become its trampling place..
Then, Israel is persecuted
Zechariah 13: 8 “It will come about in all the land,”
Declares the LORD, “That two parts in it will be cut
off and perish; But the third will be left in it.
9 “And I will bring the third part through the fire,
Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as
gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will
answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ And
they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”
Antichrist enters the Holy of Holies in the Temple and
demands to be worshiped as God
2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no one in any way deceive
you, 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 socalled god or object of worship, so that he takes his
seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as
being God..
Jerusalem is surrounded by hostile armies
Luke 21:20 “But when you see Jerusalem
surrounded by armies, then recognize that her
desolation is near.
There are two battles. First, the “Battle of Gog” when
Russia brings a selected group of nations against Israel,
a battle cut short by God Himself
Second is the “Battle of Armageddon” where the
antichrist brings the armies of the entire world against
Israel..
Ezekiel 38:1 And the word of the LORD came to me
saying,
2 “Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land
of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal,
and prophesy against him
3 and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am
against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and
Tubal.
4 “I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws,
and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses
and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great
company with buckler and shield, all of them
wielding swords;
5 Persia, Ethiopia and Put with them, all of them with
shield and helmet;
6 Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the
remote parts of the north with all its troops—many
peoples with you.
7 “Be prepared, and prepare yourself, you and all
your companies that are assembled about you,
and be a guard for them.
This is the “Battle of Gog”..
I am sure all of that made perfect sense…
Most of these names identify certain grand and
great grandchildren of Noah representing nations
that today no longer use those names
Gog though means “ruler” or “the man on top”
and is referred to in Ezekiel (38:18) as:
“the prince”
Who are these nations today?
Here is what Biblical research shows:
Magog: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan,
Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia (all of the
former Soviet Union and probably Afghanistan
Rosh: Russia
Meshech and Tubal: Turkey
Persia: Iran
Ethiopia: Sudan
Libya: Libya
Gomer: Germany
Beth-Togarmah: with Meshech and Tubal already
listed it is part of modern day Turkey
Without identifying them Ezekiel adds:
“many people are with you”
indicating other nations will join in support of the action
against Jerusalem, most probably some of the remaining
Muslim nations..
What about the allies?????
Ezekiel 28:13 “Sheba and Dedan and the merchants
of Tarshish with all its villages will say to you, ‘Have
you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled
your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver
and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture
great spoil?’”’
Let’s see what the scholars say about this:
Sheba/Dedan: Arabian Peninsula = Saudi Arabia,
Yemen, Oman, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates
Tarshish, Villages and Young Lions = Western
Europe, England and its former colonies
These countries will stand idly by!
Remember, it is God who cuts this short..
Ezekiel 28:13 “Sheba and Dedan and the
merchants of Tarshish with all its villages will say
to you, ‘Have you come to capture spoil? Have
you assembled your company to seize plunder, to
carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and
goods, to capture great spoil?’”’
Warren alluded to this last week when he indicated that
Israel has something the other nations want which is
the probable cause of Russia’s action. It could be a lot
of different things, the natural gas Warren mentioned,
the fertile land, maybe an oil discovery??
At this battle, Israel is done, no force of man especially a
tiny nation that has already been reduced by two
thirds can stand against this mighty army
As He has always promised, Israel is God’s chosen an
He isn't about to allow them to be annulated
God counters the army with a massive earthquake
He then confuses the armies and they begin fighting
among themselves
Then comes pestilence and bloodshed
Finally flooding rain, great hailstones, fire and brimstone
raining down from the sky
Soon, the battle is over..
It will take 7 months to bury the remains of the
armies
It will take 7 years to destroy all the weapons
brought against Israel..
At the end of the tribulation, the armies of the world will
gather in Israel in the Megiddo Valley.
Hebrew = harmaggeddon hence the title Battle of
Armageddon (Rev. 16:16)
Har = mount (mount of Megiddo)
Megiddo = slaughter
“Mount of Slaughter”
Over 200 major battles were fought here to date..
All the armies of the earth gather under the leadership of
the antichrist to destroy Israel, annihilate the Jews and
thwart God’s plan to establish His kingdom there
(Zech. 12:2-2, 9; 14:2; Rev. 19:9)
They come from every corner of the globe
(Dan. 11:40 – 45; Zech. 14:2; Rev. 16:12-16)..
Israel 1/19th the size of California, closer to the size of
New Jersey (third smallest state)
Israel 260 miles long, 60 miles wide at the widest point
and 3 and 9 miles at the narrow points
Israel surrounded by 22 hostile Arab/Islamic
dictatorships, collectively 640 times her size and
60 times her population..
20 miles x 14 miles
Megiddo Valley
today is called
the Jezreel Valley
NORTH
EAST
NORTH
Jezreel (Megiddo) Valley
Jezreel (Megiddo) Valley
When the armies of the world gather, there are too many
to count
As in the invasion of Russia, God fights the battle this
time defeating the attackers just by His mighty word!!!
(Rev 19:15)
The millions of dead are consumed by birds
(Jer. 25:33 – Rev. 19:118, 21)
Swords and spears are converted into tools
(Is. 2:4)
During the second 3 ½ years, the Trumpet
Judgments:
1. God will rain down hail and fire upon the earth
2. A “great mountain burning with fire” is thrown into
the sea, turning one third of the sea into blood, killing
one third of all the living creatures in the sea, and
also destroying one third of the ships that are in the
sea when this happens.
3. A “great star burning like a torch” falls from heaven
on one third of the rivers and springs causing major
contamination, causing many men to die because
the waters were made bitter.
4. God strikes a third of the sun, a third of the moon, and
a third of the stars so they are darkened and thus give
no light to the earth
5. Begins what is called the “woes”, mentioned 3 times
The bottomless pit is opened up where a huge swarm
of locusts are allowed to be released upon the earth
biting men like a scorpion
6. The second woe, is almost beyond comprehension.
Four demonic angels are released from the Euphrates
river to literally kill one third of all mankind. They will
be leading an army of 200 million demonic spirits
7. As the seventh trumpet sounds, we are shown that
heaven is beginning to rejoice because they know the
end is very near and that God is releasing His wrath
on a sinful world, He is finally enacting His
vengeance..
Finally, the Bowl Judgments
1. God releases a very foul and loathsome sore or boil
to come upon all the people who have the mark of
the beast
2. God causes the entire sea to turn to blood and every
living creature in the sea is killed as a result
3. God turns all rivers and springs into blood
4. God allows the heat of the sun to scorch men with
great heat..
5. God causes total darkness to fall upon the earth
6. The Euphrates river is allowed to dry up so as to
prepare the way for the kings of the east to come for
the last and final battle on planet earth – the battle of
Armageddon
7. “it is done,” is shouted out and the greatest and
most severe earthquake ever hits the earth followed
by great hailstones weighing about 135 pounds
apiece launched at the earth!!
Why will God allow this to happen?
1. To finish His judgment on Israel (Jer. 30:7)
2. To finalize His judgment on the nations that
specifically persecuted Israel (Joel 3:2)
3. To formally judge all the nations that rejected Him
(Rev. 19:15)
Aren’t you amazed that after all the miraculous signs
that occur during this 7 year period there are still
billions of people that reject Christ!!!!!!!
What do we take home?
God will do what He said He will do
The time is short
Witness, witness, witness!!
“WE STUDY THE END TIMES SO THAT WE
WILL LIVE EACH DAY AS IF IT IS OUR
LAST”