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 so- called 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 1/19 th 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

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 spiritsdemonic 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”