The Tribulation, Part Four

In this post I cover the last three reasons why we know that the Tribulation covers the entire Church age. 

 

9. The ninth reason for seeing the tribulation as spanning the entire church age has to do with a follow-up on #8. If we understand the entire message of the book of Daniel, it supports the understanding of Daniel 9:24-27 I just set forth and so provides another reason for seeing the tribulation as I have explained it. 

In the book of Daniel the faithful Israelites serve as a type of the ultimate faithful man/person of God who trusts him, follows him, and remains faithful even in the face of great evil and suffering. As such, they form types of Christ (even to the point of Daniel being sealed for a time in the lion’s pit, i.e. in the realm of death, and being raised and vindicated out of that [ch. 6]), foreshadowing the death and resurrection of Christ. As such, the book of Daniel depicts the faithful as suffering for a time and then being raised and vindicated (see 12:2-3). Such a paradigm looks forward to Christ, the coming Son of Man (cf. 7:13-14), with whom will come “an end to sin,” and who will “atone for iniquity” (9:24). The sense seems to be, however, that all who truly come to God in faith and who seek to follow the Son of Man’s example of living redemptively will suffer, yet will be vindicated in the future through resurrection. What this means is that the suffering of the Jews under Antiochus IV Epiphanes (the little penultimate horn [8:9]) is a type of, i.e. it looks forward to more ultimate suffering of an ultimate horn or opposition to God that precedes the end of the end (cf. 7:24-26). The fact that the saints will be given into the hands of the horn “a time, times, and half a time” (Dan. 7:25 [see also 12:7, 11-12]), most likely is paradigmatic (see also Hos. 6:2)—looking forwad to the ultimate suffering of the Son of Man in behalf of the people of God (cf. 1 Cor. 15:4), who would be under the power of death for this time, before vindication. As such, the 3 ½ times x 2 (cf. Mt. 24:21; Rev. 7:14; 11:2, 9 [3.5 days—see Hos. 6:2]; 12:6, 14; 13:5-7) most likely depicts a long time of suffering and desolation—reminiscent of the typological tribulation under Antiocus Epiphanes, as well as the fall of Jerusalem under the Roman, Titus, in AD 70 and following. All of this language, then, suggests that Jesus Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of the suffering Son of Man, the Son of God, who will be vindicated and those who are united to him also will suffer and be vindicated! Such is especially supported by the same language of Daniel being found in Revelation—to refer to times, time, and half a time, etc. When the best understanding of Daniel 9:20-27 is set forth, it also is seen that the Church is currently in the last three and a half year period of suffering, trials, discipline, and persecution.    

 

10. Given the ground we have covered, we also can say there is an historical reason for using three and a half years (or 3.5 x 2) to speak of tribulation. New Testament scholar, D. A. Carson explains: 

In Israel, the period of time with…mythic power was three and a half years. Two centuries before Christ, there arose one of the most grisly episodes in Jewish history, an episode foreseen by Daniel. In the book of Revelation, the crucial period of time is indicated by four synonymous expressions: forty-two months (based on the ideal month of thirty days), 1,260 days, three and a half years, and time…times…, and a half a time…. For Jewish Christian readers in the first century, this period of immense suffering instantly calls to mind the wretched reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes…. Because that three-and-a-half-year period was such a burning memory in the Jews’ mind from that point on (and they understood it in connection with their interpretation of Daniel), they came to think of three and a half years as a time of severe testing, opposition, and tribulation before God himself gave his people rest again.

 

And so what three and a half years would conjure up in the minds of readers steeped in the Old Testament and/or Jewish history, was something akin to our saying of someone experiencing great loss today, “This was his 9/11 moment!” We all would understand what this signifies in light of the horrific events of September 11, 2001. 

 

11. The final reason given for seeing the tribulation in the manner I have explained in this post has to do with answering another objection by some, who have concluded the tribulation period is primarily a time in which God works with ethnic Jews, to bring them to their true Messiah. They point to Jeremiah 30:7 as proof. This verse is found in a section of Jeremiah that is promising future restoration for Israel and Judah. The verse reads: “Alas!  That day is so great there is none like it; it is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be saved out of it.” The argument from some is that “a time of distress for Jacob” refers ultimately to the tribulation and, if taken literally, would suggest strongly that the tribulation is a time in which God is focusing upon ethnic Israel—and once the church is removed from the earth. The fact that the verse goes on to read, “yet he shall be saved out of it,” leaves room for the tribulation to be a time in which the distress works to bring many in Israel to trust in Jesus Christ. 

Even if we agree that this verse has reference to the future time of tribulation we are addressing in this blog post, there is no reason at all to see this reference as dealing only with ethnic Israel. After all, in Jeremiah 31:31-34, where God promises to make a new covenant with “the house of Israel and the house of Judah,” this has a larger pattern of meaning than referring merely to ethnic Israel, as the New Testament clarifies (Luke 22:20; Heb. 8:8-13). It refers to all who will be part of the true Israel and Judah, be they ethnic Jews or Gentiles! So, there is no reason to think of the tribulation as having to be merely a time of focus upon ethnic Jews.