Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ Jesus,
We continue our study of the “End Times” by focusing on the second half of the Tribulation in this message. The second half of the Tribulation is known as “The Great Tribulation” or “The Time of Jacob’s Trouble.” As taught in the earlier messages in this series, the Tribulation officially begins when the antichrist signs a seven-year peace treaty with Israel. This will happen an undisclosed period of time after the Rapture has occurred. It is likely a short period of time. Why? Because the Church is no longer in the earth. It is what holds the antichrist back, even at this time. After the Rapture, there is nothing to oppose the antichrist.
The Tribulation is a seven-year period divided into two equal halves of three-and-one-half years, or 1,260 days. When the antichrist signs the seven-year peace treaty with Israel, he will allow Israel to rebuild the Temple and to begin the sacrifices and oblations (offerings) again. If you wanted to know when the Temple will be rebuilt, it will be at the start of the Tribulation. Let’s now look at the second half, or the second period, of 1,260 days of the Tribulation. Daniel 9:27 describes the prophetic event that marks the start of the second half of the Tribulation.
Daniel 9:27
And he [antichrist] shall confirm the covenant with many [Israel] 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.
Daniel 9:27 speaks to the covenant, or the peace-treaty, that will be signed for one week or seven years. In the middle of the seven years, the antichrist will commit what is termed the “abomination of desolation.” What is an abomination? It is any act that desecrates that which God has created to be holy or sacred. The Temple and the Holy of Holies, where the Ark with the Mercy Seat is located, is declared by God’s law to be holy and sacred.
Notice the Scripture, “and in the midst of the week.” In the middle of the prophetic week, three-and-one-half years, or 1,260 days, the antichrist shall enter the Temple in Jerusalem and put an end to the sacrifices and offerings and shall commit the abomination of desolation. There are two phases of the abomination of desolation. The first is when the antichrist enters the Temple and proclaims himself to be God. The second phase is when the image of the antichrist is set up and people are ordered to worship it.
Before we proceed, let me first say that Daniel 9:24-27 and Isaiah 28:14-22 both speak about the same event, the Tribulation. However, the difference is the Daniel account is from man’s perspective and the Isaiah account is from God’s perspective. Both complement each other by providing additional insight into what is being said concerning the events and the timing leading to, and into, the abomination of desolation and the end of the age before Christ returns.
Isaiah 28:14-22
14 Wherefore hear The Word of The LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
20 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.
21 For The LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, He shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that He may do His work, His strange work; and bring to pass His act, His strange act.
22 Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from The Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
Isaiah 28:15, God speaks to Israel’s false security in believing the covenant or peace treaty with the antichrist will protect them. Again, because Isaiah is God’s perspective, notice God calls the antichrist “death” and “hell” and speaks to Israel’s belief that “the overflowing scourge,” which is another word for the Tribulation, will not affect them because of the peace treaty. Remember the antichrist is persecuting all other Believers, the Gentiles. He doesn’t persecute the Jews during the first half of the Tribulation because of the peace treaty. The other Believers that being persecuted are those Gentiles that accept Christ as their Savior after the Rapture occurs and during the Tribulation.
In Isaiah 28:16, God speaks to having laid the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation, the tried stone, which is Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 28:17, God speaks to Jesus being the judgment or the plumb line, and Jesus being the righteousness or the level (plummet) as the foundation or cornerstone. It is from, and upon, Jesus, the cornerstone, that everything else in The Kingdom of God is built using the plumb line of judgment, or justice, and the level of righteousness.
In Isaiah 28:18, God speaks to the antichrist, or death, disannulling, or breaking, the seven-year peace treaty. God goes on to say, “the overflowing scourge,” or the Great Tribulation, “shall pass through” or come upon Israel, and they shall be trodden down by it. We’ll see that two-thirds of the Jews shall be killed during the second half of the Tribulation. Only one-third of the Jews died during the Holocaust of World War II. The Tribulation will be horrific compared to the Holocaust.
Isaiah 28:21 speaks to God doing “His work, His strange work” and “bring to pass His act, His strange act.” These terms along with “the overflowing scourge” are all names for the Tribulation. Remember, in the last message, we learned God has a threefold reason for the Tribulation:
- To bring an end to wickedness and wicked people.
- To bring about the greatest revival the world has ever seen.
- To bring the Jews corporately to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
God is driving the Jews, corporately as the Nation of Israel, to turn to Him, to repent for having rejected and crucified The Messiah, and to cry out for The Messiah to return. This doesn’t happen until the abomination of desolation occurs. It is during this abomination the Jews will realize The Messiah has already visited them, and they rejected Him. Jesus foretold this and said He would not return until the Nation of Israel repented, recognized Him as The Messiah, and asked Him to return.
Matthew 23:39
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.
Let’s look at what occurs during the abomination of desolation that causes the Jews to recognize The Messiah has already visited them, and that they rejected Him by crucifixion.
Daniel 7:25
And he [antichrist] shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
Daniel 7:25 refers to the abomination of desolation, the event that will happen on the 1,260th day of the Tribulation. The antichrist will enter the Temple and stop the sacrifices and offerings. He will demonstrate that he is God by sitting on the Mercy Seat and declaring “changes in times and laws.” “Change times and laws” is a figure of speech. The three Jewish feasts that are referred to in Deuteronomy 16:16 are also referred to as “times” by the Jews. The antichrist will also change the Sabbath from Saturday to Friday, and it will be a day to worship him.
Deuteronomy 16:16
Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before The LORD thy God in the place which He shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before The LORD empty:
“Laws” refers to the Levitical law outlined in the Book of Leviticus. In particular, the different types of sacrifices and offerings: how to perform them, what is clean and unclean, and the specific duties of the priests.
Daniel 7:25 also tells us the antichrist shall “wear out the saints of the Most High.” This means he will hunt down and kill them. These saints are those that have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior since the Rapture occurred. This will include the millions of remaining Jews that realize Jesus is The Messiah, and they believe in and cry out to Him.
The Apostle Paul also speaks to what the antichrist will do at the abomination of desolation.
II Thessalonians 2:4
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
“Shewing” is the Greek Word, “avpodei knumi” and means, “to demonstrate by your actions and behavior.” So, the antichrist will not make declarations so much as he will by his actions and behavior try and demonstrate he is God. He will sit on the Mercy Seat saying he is God, but he will also demonstrate by his actions and his behavior.
Matthew 24:14-20 gives us more detail of what will happen during the second half of the Tribulation. Jesus provided this insight.
Matthew 24:14-20
14 And this Gospel of The Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
In Verse 14, “and then shall the end come” is referring to the last in a series of events, not the end itself. The second half of the Tribulation is the last in a series of events before Jesus’ Second Coming to the earth.
In Verse 15, Jesus is referring us back to Daniel 9:24-27. It is extremely important to note Jesus’ admonition that “whoso readeth, let him understand.” There was no New Testament written until many years later. So, Jesus was not referring to the generation of His disciples with this admonition. Instead, it is written to us, as a warning.
In Verse 15, “therefore” is a conjunctive adverb that connects thoughts. In this case, “therefore” is connecting “and then shall the end come” with “the abomination of desolation.” So, the second half of the “end” will start with the “abomination of desolation.”
“Understand” what in verse 15? That the end has come.
Verses 16-18 are a warning to those in Jerusalem and Israel at the time the abomination occurs. We must remember that it will be televised and will be carried on social media, worldwide. Jesus is warning the Jews that immediately upon the abomination, the antichrist will execute his fierce hate and anger against the Jews by seeking to exterminate every one of them from the earth. Jesus is saying when you see this happen, immediately leave everything and flee. But, where will they flee to that the antichrist cannot find them, cannot persecute them?
Verse 20 Jesus instructs us to pray the abomination doesn’t happen in the winter or on a Sabbath. Why would Jesus say this? Winter is the rainy season in Israel. The wadis, also known as dry river or stream beds, are prone to deep, flash floods. There is a significant wadi known as Wadi Musa (Valley of Moses) which must be traveled to reach the place God has reserved for the Jews fleeing the antichrist.
Jesus also said pray it doesn’t happen on the Sabbath. Why is this an issue? All public transportation shuts down on the Sabbath. It’s impossible to get a ride to anywhere within Israel.
Next week’s message will continue and finish the second half of the Tribulation and address Jesus’s Second Coming. Does Jesus return to the Mount of Olives for His Second Coming or does He have another earthly stop, first? Stay tuned to learn in next week’s message.
Blessings in Christ Jesus,
Larry