In my previous post I began setting forth eleven reasons why the tribulation the Bible speaks of spans the entire New Testament Church age and not just a short seven years at the end of this age.
In this post I will set forth the fifth reason we know this to be the case.
5. All of the references to "tribulation" in Revelation, if read in context, are spanning the entire age of the church. Let’s look at this:
a. The word “tribulation” is used five times in Revelation (7:14 being the fifth and final use). In its first four uses, the word clearly refers to trials, discipline, persecution, judgment (the latter on unbelievers) during this entire age. In the introduction to the chapter one vision of Jesus that John received, the apostle said of his original readers that he is a partner with them in tribulation (1:9). In other words, he assumes that these seven churches (representing the church throughout the ages!) experience tribulation currently in this broken and sin-cursed world.[1] Similarly, in the messages to the seven churches in chapters 2-3, John affirms that churches currently experience tribulation, which includes trials and persecution (2:9, 10), as well as discipline and judgment (2:22). “But,” some might argue, “in Revelation 7:14 we read of ‘the great tribulation.’ Doesn’t the presence of ‘the’ and ‘great’ mark this tribulation off as being something different and worse than what the church experiences throughout most of this age?” No it does not.
To begin, in Rev. 2:22 the discipline and/or judgment threatened against a false prophetess and her followers in Thyatira is spoken of as “great tribulation.” But, again, some might respond, “But this could refer to a ‘great tribulation,’ and still not be ‘the great’ or ‘the greatest tribulation.’”
This is true, but when we go to Jesus’ words in the Olivet Discourse, where he talks about what this age will be like from his first coming to his second coming, he makes it clear that believers should expect to experience tribulation now (Mt. 24:9), which in context, speaks of various kinds of trials and suffering (natural disasters, wars, famine) and also persecution. He does go on to suggest that during this period there will be “great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be” (Mt. 24:21; Mk. 13:19 [Mark does not include the word “great”]).
So, certainly, there is a great tribulation, an intensified tribulation. But when does it happen according to Jesus? The careful reader of the Olivet Discourse (Mt. 24; Mk. 13; Lk. 21) will grasp that the events Jesus speaks of occur from right away in reference to the days of himself and his disciples and span to the point just before his second coming (“immediately after the tribulation of those days”: Mt. 24:29; Mk. 13:24). There is nothing in the Olivet Discourse that locates tribulation or even a great tribulation only at the very end of this age (even though room is left for tribulation to escalate during this age, as Revelation teaches). In fact, Jesus locates “the abomination of desolation” (Mt. 24:15) that Daniel spoke of (Dan. 9:27) and which, as will be seen, forms part of the background to tribulation language, during the time of the disciples to whom he is talking. This strongly suggests the tribulation begins after the death and resurrection of Jesus and spans until his second coming. There is nothing, then, about the language of “the great tribulation” that would lead us to believe it must refer only to a short period of time at the end of this age and just before or after the second coming of Jesus Christ.[2]
b. In Revelation 11:2 we find the period of “forty-two months” of suffering and persecution for the church at the hands of the unbelieving nations, which is another way of talking about a figurative three and a half years of tribulation, which finds its background in Daniel 7:25; 9:27; 12:7, 11, 12. Most likely Daniel has some reference in these passages to persecution of Jews at the hands of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (Greek king of the Seleucid Empire) in the early half of the second century, B.C. This persecution that lasted about 3.5 years was some of the worst the Jewish people ever faced and so 3.5 years became synonymous with great persecution that God also would bring to an end, as he did with that period. The persecution and destruction by Antiochus IV also prefigured what would happen in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 (cf. Mt. 24:15), which itself was a harbinger of more tribulation to come throughout the church age. What we need to see about Revelation 11:2 is that it is found in an interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpets (which is parallel to the interlude between the sixth and seventh seals). This, coupled with the vast amount of material in Rev. 11 that suggests what we are seeing in that chapter is a figurative depiction of the church during this age on mission, strongly suggests that the forty-two months is to be taken figuratively as a period of significant suffering and persecution through which God will protect his people in the ultimate sense and which he will eventually end. It is the same span of time as we see in the Chapter 7 interlude (v. 14).
c. We also see a reference to “forty-two months” of suffering and persecution in Rev. 13:5, at the hands of the beastly world-system, which wields the authority of and represents Satan himself. Again, when we get to that chapter we will discover strong evidence it is speaking of this entire age. But additionally, the reference to “forty-two months,” as we saw in 11:2 is most likely intended to make the reader equate the two references as the same period.
d. In Rev. 11:3 we find a reference to 1,260 days, which is three and a half years as calculated with a 360 day year (which many in that day and time used). In this verse the point is that the two witnesses (representing the church in this age) will prophesy (most likely the sense is tell forth God’s Word, the gospel) for that period. The background of Daniel, Antiochus IV, and the close proximity to the “forty-two months” of 11:2 strongly suggest that the period spans the entire church age.
e. In Revelation 12:6 we find another reference to 1,260 days, a period of time the people of God, those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus (12:17) are in the wilderness of this world and face persecution at the hands of the dragon, i.e. Satan, and his evil spirits (cf. 12:3, 8-10, 12, 15, 17). This chapter clearly spans the entire church age and it is another demonstration that the 1,260 days is meant to be taken figuratively to speak of a significant period of great tribulation for God’s people.
f. In Revelation 12:14 we find another way to speak of the three and a half years: “a time, times, and half a time,” which is evidently to be taken as the same as the 1,260 days in 12:6. The background for “a time, times, and a half times,” is Daniel 7:25; 12:7. Based on that background the figure is that of three and a half years that symbolizes great suffering for God’s people.
g. So, in summary, all the uses of tribulational language in Revelation seem to support my assertion that what it symbolizes is the entire span of the church age, along with the trials, suffering, discipline, persecution, and judgment (for unbelievers) that takes place.
I will cover the remaining reasons the tribulation spans the entire New Testament Church age in my final two blogs over the next couple days.
[1] Consider also what Jesus told his disciples and subsequent readers about what our experience would be in this age (John 16:33): “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
[2] In fact, based upon the Olivet Discourse (esp. the versions in Mt. 24 and Mk. 13) it is very difficult to place a coming of Christ and resurrection of the Church before the tribulation. It goes against the very clear language we find!
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