WHAT SHOULD BE THE NATURE OF THE "GREAT TRIBULATION"?

 

BACKGROUND SCRIPTURES 
IN 
THE GOSPELS

In the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus was asked by His disciples about the signs that would accompany the end of the age and time of His return. Since they were on the Mount of Olives at the time, the conversation is referred to as the "Olivet Discourse". You can find that discourse in (Matthew 24-25; Mark 13; and Luke 21), with those portions relevant to the Great Tribulation reading as follows:

 

(Matthew 24:1-3)
1 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.
2 And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down." 
3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" 

 NKJV

Jesus' response at first described the general nature of troubles leading up to the End Times, then He focused their attention on a time when an Abomination of Desolation and Great Tribulation would occur,  seemingly  just prior to His apocalyptic return.

 

(Matthew 24:15-30)
15 "Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation', spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand), 
16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 
17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 
18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 
19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 
20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 
21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 
22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. 
23 Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. 
24 For false Christ's and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 
25 See, I have told you beforehand. 
26 Therefore if they say to you, 'Look, He is in the desert!' do not go out; or 'Look, He is in the inner rooms!' do not believe it. 
27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 
28 For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. 
 29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 
30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 

(Luke 21:20-27)
20 "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. 
21 Then let those in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. 
22 For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 
23 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. 
24 And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. 
25 "And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; 
26 men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. 
27 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 

NKJV

The Matthew and Mark scriptures pertaining to the time of the Abomination of Desolation and Great Tribulation are almost identical, so only the Matthew text is displayed above. The Luke scripture that relates directly to those in Matthew and Mark is shown because it is worded differently. Although it omits the terms Abomination of Desolation and Great Tribulation, it speaks of a military siege against Jerusalem followed by an extended period of distress to befall the Jewish people, then also concludes with the Lord's return in power and great glory. Thus it deals with the same overall time period in question.

 

THE "ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION" AND "GREAT TRIBULATION"
CAN BE ABSOLUTELY RELATED TO 
THE FIRST CENTURY DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL BY THE ROMANS

Bible historians are nearly unanimous in their view that the Olivet Discourse was at least partly fulfilled by the first century AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. One of many is quoted:

"This abomination of desolation, refers to the Roman army; and this abomination standing in the holy place is the Roman army besieging Jerusalem; this is what was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, and so let everyone who reads these prophecies understand them; and in reference to this very event they are understood by the rabbis. The Roman army is called an abomination, for its ensigns and images, which were so to the Jews. Josephus says, the Romans brought their ensigns into the temple, and placed them over against the eastern gate, and sacrificed to them there. The Roman army is therefore fitly called the abomination which makes desolate,---" 

(Adam Clarke Commentary)

This interpretation, identifying that first century Roman invasion as an abomination, is supported by reading (Luke 21.20), which is also concordant with (Matthew 24.15; Mark 13.14), for the Luke verse makes it clear that the "Abomination" speaks of a time when Jerusalem is to be surrounded by armies. Moreover, the following verses indicate that that event would set the stage for the Jews being led away captive into all nations. 

The historic record is clear; a Roman army surrounded Jerusalem in AD 70 after first destroying much of the rest of Israel. The ensuing destruction of the city and Temple resulted in a terrible carnage of the Jewish people with about one million people being killed during the onslaught. The nation of Israel was essentially annihilated at that time, resulting in the scattering of the Jews among the nations, never to return to their homeland as a reformed nation until 1948.

Matthew and Mark indicate that the occurrence of the Abomination of Desolation would be an event apparent to all in Judea, prompting some to flee to the mountains East of the Jordan river. That early Jewish believers read this prophecy literally is suggested from history which records that when a Syrian general by the name of Cestius first laid siege to Jerusalem in AD 66 and then retreated, many Jewish believers took that opportunity to flee across the river to the Perean mountains. Although the final siege by Titus did not begin until February, AD 70, those believers who earlier took the prophecy literally were saved from that final desolation.

Additional connections like the following ones further support the notion that the Olivet Discourse prophecy can be at least partly explained by the first century Roman invasion and destruction of Israel: 

  1. The angel Gabriel, when detailing to Daniel the "70 Weeks" determined upon his people, indicated that the next major event following the AD 32 coming of Messiah would be the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. This was surely fulfilled by the Roman destruction just 38 years later.

  2. By a not-so-amazing "coincidence", the Lunar Levitical dates for the destruction of Solomon's Temple in 586 BC by Nebuchadnezzar, and Herod's second Temple in AD 70 by Titus, fell on precisely the same date of AB 9, again suggesting that the Roman destruction was prophetic. 

 

BUT THE "ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION" AND "GREAT TRIBULATION"
MUST ALSO BE RELATED TO SOME OTHER EVENT IN THE END TIMES

Several years ago, I happened to be listening to a radio program where two Bible scholars debated the subject of the prophecies in the Olivet Discourse. One scholar advanced the points just summarized above, arguing that the prophecies were completely fulfilled in the first century, whereas the second scholar maintained that they would be fulfilled only at some future time.

I felt that the argument by the scholar who took the historic view was actually superior to the End Times proponent until he reached those verses pertaining to the Lord's return. At that point, the historic view seemed to break down, because it became necessary to spiritualize the Lord's return to be something other than a visible apocalypse. Since there are numerous scriptures, like the following ones, that make it evident that His return will be manifest on a physical level apparent to everyone, it became obvious that a purely historic interpretation of the Olivet Discourse is incomplete.

(Matthew 26:57, 63-65)
57 And those who had laid hold of Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. -----
63 But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, "I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!" 
64 Jesus said to him, "It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven." 
(II Thessalonians 2:7-8)
7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.

(Revelation 1:7-8)
7 Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. 
8 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." 

NKJV

Since it is abundantly clear that a restricted historic interpretation of the Olivet Discourse has much merit yet cannot explain these other scriptures describing the Lord's physical return, how can the Olivet Discourse be satisfactorily interpreted? 

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Prophecies about the Lord's coming typically have dual fulfillments

If we were to study Old Testament prophecies related to the coming of the Lord, we would discover a very interesting commonality. They all tend to blur the time of His coming, making it all but impossible a priori, to distinguish between His first coming as Savior versus His second coming as King and Judge. This ambiguity so confused many Old Testament rabbis that they could not tell whether these prophecies spoke of a single Messiah who would fulfill the entire prediction, or multiple Messiah's who would fulfill each part. 

Review the following Old Testament prophecies, with the verses artificially divided between Messiah's first and second coming, to see how this feature is characteristic of all of them.

(Isaiah 9:6-7)
6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 
-----division-----
7 Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. 

(Isaiah 61:1-2)
1-2a "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, 
-----division-----
2b And the day of vengeance of our God.

(Micah 5:2-4)
2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting." 
-----division-----
3-4 Therefore He shall give them up, Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth; Then the remnant of His brethren Shall return to the children of Israel. And He shall stand and feed His flock In the strength of the LORD, In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God; And they shall abide, For now He shall be great To the ends of the earth; 

(Zechariah 9:9-10)
9 "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey. 
-----division-----
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; The battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be 'from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.' 

NKJV

The divisions show that the first part of each of these prophecies was fulfilled during Messiah's first century coming, but the part following the division will not be fulfilled until His second coming. The division is particularly descriptive in the (Isaiah 61.1-2) prophecy when Jesus Himself highlighted the division by the following statement to the people in His hometown of Nazareth.

(Luke 4:16-21)
16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 
17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 
18 "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." 
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 
21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." 

NKJV

Notice that Messiah curtailed His quote of Isaiah half-way through verse 19, so as not to misrepresent the purpose of His first coming as Savior.

 

THEREFORE THE OLIVET DISCOURSE MIGHT ALSO BE EXPECTED TO HAVE A DUAL FULFILLMENT

If we will read carefully the disciples original question to Jesus in (Matthew 24.3), it clearly involves two separate events, i.e. (a) the destruction of the Temple, and (b) the Lord's return at the end of the age. Of course, the disciples had no way of knowing that these two events would be separated by many centuries, but Jesus' precise answer to their question required that the Olivet Discourse must have a dual fulfillment, just like those Old Testament prophecies cited above. Consequently, that portion of their question pertaining to the destruction of the Temple was surely fulfilled by the Romans in AD 70, but that second portion about the Lord's return is still future to our time.

This duality complicates our ability to easily sort out all of the verses in the Discourse. While it is clear that the Lord's return will occur only once in the End Times, it must become the subject of additional study to determine which of the other events (or parts of them) leading up to His apocalypse have application to both the first century and the End Times. For example:

Nevertheless, our search for such End Time events to dually fulfill provisions of the Olivet Discourse is made somewhat easier by observing that their End Times fulfillment should occur during the Times of the Gentiles (When Should the "Great Tribulation" Occur?), and should have the Jews as a primary target.


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