Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ Jesus,
We continue our “End Times” series looking into the Rapture, the Tribulation, and the Second Coming. All three are separate end times events God has spoken through the prophets with specific purposes and outcomes.
- The Rapture – The Rapture is Jesus coming back for His bride, The Church.
- The Tribulation – The Tribulation is the wrath or judgment of God against the inhabitants of the earth, all who are unsaved at the time.
- The Second Coming – The Second Coming is Jesus coming back to the earth to establish His covenant with Israel, His chosen nation and people.
Before going any further, we need to understand how timelines are calculated in The Scriptures, prophetically. There are 360 days in a prophetic year. Each year is equal to a “day” in prophecy, and “one week” is equal to seven years. A prophetic generation is equal to 100 years. The foundation of Bible prophecy timeline is Daniel 9:24-27. This is known as Daniel’s 70 weeks.
Daniel 9:24-27
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
To keep it simple (you’ll have to do a deeper dive using this as a basis), the prophetic timeline for the end times events, according to Daniel 9:24-27 is as follows:
- Verse 24 – 70 weeks = 70 x 7 or 490 years.
- Verse 25 – 69 weeks = 69 x 7 or 483 years. 483 years x 360 days = 173,880 days.
- Verse 25 – The commandment to rebuild Jerusalem was given on March 14, 445 BC.
- Verse 25 – 173,880 days later is April 6, 32 AD. This is exactly the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem on the back of a donkey and the people were declaring Him as the Messiah and the King.
- Verse 26 – Jesus, The Messiah, is crucified April 10, 32 AD.
- Verse 27 – The antichrist, known in verse 26 as “the prince,” signs a peace treaty with Israel for seven years or “one prophetic week.” Seven years x 360 days is equal to 2,520 days. This is the length of the Tribulation. The midst of the Tribulation will be exactly 1,260 days. At the midst of the Tribulation, verse 27 tells us the antichrist will stop the sacrifices and offerings (oblations), will enter the Temple, will sit on the Mercy Seat, and will declare himself to be God. This starts the intense persecution of Israel and of the Jews. Two-thirds of the Jews will be killed during the second half of the Tribulation, also known as “The Great Tribulation” or “The Time of Jacob’s Trouble.” During the seven years of the Tribulation, there will be the greatest revival ever seen in the history of mankind.
- The period between from “The Messiah being cut off” to the Rapture is known as “The Church Age” or “The Fullness of the Gentiles.” It is approximately 2,000 years.
- The end of the Tribulation ushers in the Millennium, which is the 1,000 year Messianic Reign of Peace of Jesus Christ on the earth.
Something of great interest is the curse Jesus pronounced against Israel, corporately, stating that they would be blind to Him as The Messiah in Luke 19:42 – “but now they are hid from thine eyes.” Why did Jesus pronounce this curse over Israel? Luke 19:44 tells us: “because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.” Had the Pharisees known the prophecy, recognized, and crowned Jesus as The Messiah, it would have ushered in the Millennium, “The Age of Peace.” Notice Jesus refers to this in Luke 19:42: “If thou hadst known [the day of My visitation]” and “the things which belong unto thy peace!” However, they rejected Him and the curse went into effect.
Luke 19:41-44
41 And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it,
42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
Paul wrote about this as “Israel’s blindness” in Romans 11:25. The “fulness of the Gentiles” is the Rapture of The Church out of the earth.
Romans 11:25
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Please understand there are individual Jews that come to know Jesus the Christ as their Messiah. These are called “Messianic Jews.” However, the nation of Israel is blinded to the fact Jesus, The Messiah, has already come, has already visited them. This blindness will continue until the Tribulation opens their eyes to The Truth.
One-third of the world’s Jewish population died during The Holocaust. In The Tribulation, two-thirds of the world’s Jewish population will die. The last half of The Tribulation is referred to by Jeremiah as “The Time of Jacob’s Trouble.”
Zechariah 12:10 grace and supplication (intercession). The Jews will grieve over the fact they rejected Jesus Christ as The Messiah.
Zechariah 12:10
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplications [intercession]: and they shall look upon Me Whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
Zechariah 13:6-9. This tells us two-thirds of the Jews will be killed during The Tribulation. The one-third left will go through the fire which is the second half of The Tribulation or “The Time of Jacob’s Trouble.”
Zechariah 13:6-9
6 And one shall say unto Him, What are these wounds in Thine hands? Then He shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends.
7 Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith The LORD of hosts: smite The Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
8 And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith The LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on My Name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is My people: and they shall say, The LORD is My God.
Through The Tribulation, the Jews will recognize who is and was The Messiah, Jesus Christ. They will repent and beg for Him to return, which is the criteria. Jesus defines the very Word that must be spoken by Israel, corporately, for Jesus to return for the Millennial Reign.
Matt 23:37-39
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in The Name of The Lord.
Luke 13:35
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in The Name of The Lord.
Old Testament prophecy of what will be said by the Nation of Israel during The Tribulation, during “The Time of Jacob’s Trouble.”
Psalm 118:26
Blessed be He that cometh in The Name of The LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of The LORD.
The Rapture will remove The Church, the Believers, from the earth. Currently, The Church is what is holding back the antichrist (I will not dignify satan or the antichrist by capitalizing their names) from taking power. There are serious debates over when The Church is taken to Heaven by Jesus. We hear terms like Pre-Tribulation, Mid-Tribulation, and Post-Tribulation as defining when Believers think The Church will be removed from the earth. We don’t have the time to go through each, but let me set the stage for the Truth. First, the Tribulation does not start when the Rapture occurs. The Tribulation begins when the antichrist signs the seven-year peace treaty with Israel. This starts the countdown to the end of the Tribulation and to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. There is an undetermined amount of time between the Rapture and the signing of the peace treaty. Scripture supports a Pre-Tribulation Rapture meaning Believers will be taken out of the earth prior to the Tribulation starting.
Two primary reasons for the Pre-Tribulation Rapture:
1.) Doctrine of Imminency
Imminent: means it can happen at any time; no prophetic event required to take place before it happens.
There are still prophetic events to take place before Second Coming. The Second Coming NOT imminent.
Once the antichrist signs the peace covenant with Israel, at some unknown amount of time after The Rapture, the seven-year Tribulation begins or a total of 2,520 day. After 2,520 days, Jesus returns to the earth in His Second Coming. Exactly 1,260 days after the peace treaty is signed, “The Abomination of Desolation” will occur. The antichrist will enter the Temple, halt the sacrifices, and declare himself as God (Daniel 9:27; 12:11-12; Revelation 11:2-3; 12:4, 16; Revelation 13:5). These verses tell us this Abomination will take place in the middle of The Tribulation.
2.). Verses that say we will not go through the Tribulation
We’re the bride. We’re to eagerly await Jesus’ return.
I Thessalonians 1:10
And to wait for His Son from heaven, Whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, Which delivered us from the wrath to come.
“The wrath to come” is the Tribulation. Christ delivers us, through the Rapture, from the wrath to come.
I Thessalonians 5:3-9
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Part of our salvation package, as Believers, is deliverance from the day or time of wrath.
Romans 5:9
Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
The Scriptures can’t be more clear about God’s intentions with The Bride of Christ. We are “saved from wrath through Him.” Part of our salvation is being taken away, as the Bride, before God’s wrath pours out on the earth.
Revelation 3:10
Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
“The hour of temptation” is another reference to the Tribulation. Jesus has promised to keep us, as Believers, from the Tribulation.
Isaiah 26:19-21
19 Thy dead men shall live, together with My dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
20 Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
21 For, behold, The LORD cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
Isaiah 26:19-21 “Go home and shut your doors.” Referring to The Rapture and avoiding wrath of God
Double Jeopardy – Jesus already incurred wrath of God in place of His bride.
Romans 8:1-3
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after The Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His Own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Hebrews 10:10
By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of The Body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Jesus incurred God’s wrath on the cross once and for all for all Believers.
In closing this message, I apologize if it seems confusing. I’m laying the foundation to wrap up the “End Times” in a succinct, coherent timeline and purpose, easy to be understood because of the foundation laid. God is precise and has withheld nothing from us except for the day and hour of the Rapture. However, in the next message, we’ll learn we can know the season, and we’re in it. Jesus did not want us ignorant of the timeline and the events so we can be prepared.
In Christ,
Larry