Personal Note: Dear friends – I apologize for it taking so long to get this next piece to you on the “7 Year Tribulation Period”. After I sent out the last piece on the rapture in early December, I had 3 in-hospital surgeries, plus another in-hospital procedure in a 30 day period. One of the surgeries was a 4 hour spine/fusion surgery that took its toll on me and I have not really recovered yet. So, I have just not been able to even try working on things, especially important things, like studying and writing about Scriptural concepts. My energy and concentration levels are still not normal, but I wanted to go ahead and at least try working on the concept of “The 7 Year Tribulation Period”. Please let me know if something I share just seems off or incomplete and I will go back and work on it more and get back to you all. THANK YOU! Gene
The 7 year tribulation period follows the rapture. After the Lord Jesus has called His people up and out of this world in what we refer to as the rapture, those left on the earth (non-believers) will begin to reorganize their lives and businesses and their governments without the presence of Christians or godly influences.
As they do this, there will be the natural tendency to move to a one-world government with an international leader who can bring about a kind of worldwide peace...especially with the prevalence of so many wars and conflicts (which we are already seeing). The Scriptures indicate how people will actually be crying out for peace (sick of wars and the cost of wars).
1 Thessalonians 5:3: While people are saying (crying out for), “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
This leader eventually becomes the anti-Christ. As this world system sets in, it is obviously opposed to the one true God and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. The international community will want a world with great leadership, but without God or His moral laws.
The political leader that emerges (filled with the spirit of Satan himself) will begin to win worldwide influence and power to show the world he can bring the nations of the world together and solve all of the world-wide conflicts, finally achieving peace. His success culminates when he gets Israel to sign a 7 year peace agreement with the rest of the world, which they hope will solve all of these Palestinian conflicts inside Israel, but affecting the whole world.
Daniel 9:27: He (the anti-Christ) will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven’ (one 7 year period). In the middle of the ‘seven’ (7 year period) he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.
We know from the whole of Scripture, the anti-Christ will be hell-bent on gaining absolute control of the earth (administratively, financially, and religiously), to the point of demanding every person in the world recognize him as their god. Anyone who refuses to do so will be cut off from operating in the world or be put to death.
2 Thessalonians 2:4: Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
There will be so many things that happen during this 7 year period, that it is impossible for me to identify them all in this piece, but it will be the most terrible 7 year period or time in human history and it will be worldwide.
Revelation 6:7-8 and 9:15-18 mention that 25% of the world’s population will die during one phase. The second mentions that 33% of the remaining population will die in a second phase. That means over 50% of the world’s population will die. But, there are other deaths that are not even included in this number.
At the battle of Armageddon in Revelation 16, it reveals how the anti-Christ will bring the nations of the world to surround Israel and attack it. At this time, millions of Christ’s enemies will be slaughtered. The blood from the dead will rise about four and one half feet deep for 200 miles (Revelation 14:20). The vultures will come to feast upon the dead bodies, because it will take about seven months to bury all of the dead. The fuel from the left over weapons of Israel’s enemies will provide heating fuel for Israel for seven years (Ezekiel 39:1).
To try and appreciate what these 7 years will be like and make it more personal, let’s imagine that the rapture happened last week and you and I were not believers and were not taken-up in the rapture. So, here we are with the rest of the world looking around and wondering what in the world will happen next.
That is a depressing thought, but it will be true for billions of people, and as we proceed...we are imagining we are among them.
As mentioned above, there are so many events and experiences listed in the Book of Revelation, it would take an untold number of books to list them for you (and many books have tried to do this). So, let me share a simple summary of the first 3 ½ years and then share a simple summary of the second 3 ½ years. There will also be a list of appropriate Scriptures detailing these events.
Let us approach the outline of events that will unfold and materialize in these 7 years from an eagle eye’s view to see the bigger picture.
- The Rapture took place.
- Now the 7 year tribulation period begins.
- In various passages, the 7 year tribulation period is referred to as:
*The great tribulation (Matthew 24:21)
*The Day of the Lord (Isaiah 2:12; 13:6-9; Joel 1:15; 2:1-31; 3:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:2)
*Trouble or tribulation (Deuteronomy 4:30)
*The time of Jacob’s troubles (Jeremiah 30:7)
{The 7 year period will be the fulfillment of the 70th week of Daniel 9.} - The 7 years will be divided into two parts of 3.5 years each or 1,260 days each.
- The world will begin to reorganize itself into a unified system similar to the attempts of Nimrod and his tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1–9).
...It is also seen as the Revived Roman Empire with the 10 toes of Daniel 2 and the 10 Horns of Daniel 7. The toes and horns are one in the same. - This reorganization culminates during the first three and one half years of the 7 year period with the recognition of the anti-Christ as its head.
- The first three and a half years will be a time of false peace and prosperity upon the earth, as the anti-Christ (with his helper the False Prophet) works his way up to a peace treaty with the people of Israel.
Daniel 9:27: He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven. In the middle of the ‘seven, he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.
- As he works his way into position, he will suffer an apparent assassination, but also be miraculously brought back to life (apparently) as one of Satan’s ways of making the world think he really is the Christ. This is an imitation of the resurrection of Christ.
Revelation 13:3: One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast.
...This period is called “the beginning of sorrows” or literally, “the beginning of birth Pangs” in Matthew 24:8 characterized by:
*Wars and rumors of wars.
*Nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom.
*The earth will experience famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in many different places (Matthew 24:7).
At the midway point of the 7 year period, the anti-Christ signs a peace agreement with Israel, apparently bringing peace to the whole world.
{Note: We all get to see all of the conflicts related to Israel in the world wide news everyday.}
Soon after the peace treaty is signed, as the last three and one half years of the 7 year period begin, the anti-Christ begins to reveal his true motives, which are to be “god in the flesh of this world” and finally destroy the nation of Israel (who will never recognize or accept him as any kind of god). How many people groups today are already calling and even demanding that Israel be wiped off the map?
Daniel 7:25: He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time.
The first step the anti-Christ takes will be to walk into the rebuild Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and declare himself to be “the God”. This is called the abomination of desolation, because he defiles the temple and blasphemes the true God, claiming he is God.
Mark 13:14-27: But when you shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him who reads this understand), then let those who are in Judaea flee to the mountains:
Note: The abomination of desolation is when the anti-Christ walks into the rebuilt Jewish Temple and declares himself to be the God, which is an abomination to the Jewish people and to the Holy God Himself.
*He will demand every person take a mark on their hand or forehead, which represents their commitment to him.
*Without this mark, you cannot buy, sell, or trade or participate in the world’s economic system.
*His mark will have in it the famous 666.
Revelation 13:16-18: It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
*Revelation 13:16–17 says that taking the mark will doom the person into eternal damnation and there will be no hope anymore for him/her.
“If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger, and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.” (Also see Revelation 14:9–10)
Note: The mark of the beast itself on the hand or forehead could be a very subtle image that does not mess up or ruin a person’s physical appearance. It will contain some kind of technology (the most advanced computer code at the time, etc...) that ties or binds a person with the mark to the anti-Christ. The coded information in the mark will allow a person to access any and all of the financial systems in the world (buy, sell, trade, or whatever).
As the anti-Christ prepares the nations of the world to help him destroy Israel, leading up to the “Battle of Armageddon”, God begins to pour out His holy and righteous wrath on the entire world through many types of physical suffering – listed and illustrated in the Book of Revelation.
Revelation 16:1: Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, ‘Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.
Matthew 24:21: 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.
Footnote: At some point around the midway period of the 7 year period, God opens the eyes of 144,000 Jewish men and they become Christians. Then they are called by God and anointed by God with the power to become international evangelists, who will preach the gospel around the world during the last half of the tribulation period. Through their ministry, untold multitudes of lost people will be converted to Christ and be saved, which shows how God’s mercy never stops working and how He is always about the business of saving lost souls for His eternal kingdom. See the nice summary below from the website: https://www.gotquestions.org/144000.html
Revelation 7:4 seems to speak of 144,000 actual people living during the end-times tribulation. Nothing in the passage leads to interpreting the 144,000 as anything but a literal number of Jews—12,000 taken from every tribe of the children of Israel, according to verses 5–8. These 144,000 Jews are “sealed”, which means they have the special protection of God. They are kept safe from the divine judgments and from the wrath of the Antichrist. They can freely perform their (preaching) mission during the tribulation. It had been previously prophesied that Israel would repent and turn back to God (Zechariah 12:10; Romans 11:25–27), and the 144,000 Jews seem to be a sort of “first fruits” (Revelation 14:4) of that redeemed Israel. Their mission seems to be to evangelize the post-rapture world and proclaim the gospel during the tribulation period. As a result of their ministry, millions—“a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language” (Revelation 7:9)—will come to faith in Christ before the second coming.
The whole world will be suffering during these last three and one half years, but the armies of the world will still gather to gather to destroy Israel.
Zechariah 14:3-4: I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it. The city will be captured, and the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as He fights on a day of battle. On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.
Jeremiah 30:7: Alas! For the day is great, so that none is like it and it is the time of Jacob’s [Israel’s] trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.
When the anti-Christ and his forces make their final move on Israel, God the Father sends His son Jesus Christ back to Jerusalem in person. Jesus will descend on the Mount of Olives where He will proceed to finalize His Father’s vengeance on an evil world that has rejected Him.
Revelation 1:7: Behold, He comes with clouds and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him...and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen.
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. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
(Photo: The Mount of Olives. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
Return of Christ
At the end of the seven-year tribulation is the return of Jesus Christ. He will come back with eyes of fire and in all of His power and destroy the beast, the false prophet, and everyone who worshiped the beast.
Christians already in heaven will come back with Jesus to rule and reign over the earth for a one thousand year period called the millennium kingdom. We will study the second coming next time.
Thank you for your time!
Yours in Christ!
Gene
PS: I found a detailed list of the judgments and punishments in the order that they will take place, during the last half of the 7 year tribulation period in what is called the “GREAT TRIBULATION PERIOD”, which lasts three and one half years. To review this information and do your own detailed study, please go to this website. It is very helpful and is a real eye opener on how bad things will be then.
https://tafj.org/2020/10/25/revelation-7-order-of-judgments/
Do you have some thoughts, feelings, or questions about what you read today in this specific devotional/commentary?
If you will submit those using the form below, Gene can read them, study them, and reply to them just as soon as possible.
Thank you so much for your sharing of Gods word. Prayers for your healing and strength. 🙏🏽Pam
Despite your personal tribulations with surgical procedures you continue to spread God’s word with clarity and conviction. I’m praying for your physical recovery as you continue your ministry for our spiritual growth and recovery!
Thank you Gene for this great word. So sorry to hear about the health issues. Praying you are fully recovered very soon.
Love in Christ,
Sandy
I enjoyed your devotional! So joyed that you are gaining your strength once again!
Blessings,
Oscar