By Marv Rosenthal
In Part 1, we looked at what the Great Tribulation is, and when it will begin. In Part 2, we will look at when the Great Tribulation will end, and whom it will impact.
The Great Tribulation: When does it End?
The problem is not so much with the starting point of the Great Tribulation. Most prophetic commentators start the Great Tribulation at the midpoint of Daniel’s 70th Week in connection with “the abomination of desolation.”
The problem is with the time of the termination of the Great Tribulation. It is generally taught that the Great Tribulation is 3½ years in duration; that it begins at the midpoint of Daniel’s 70th Week in connection with the abomination of desolation, and continues until its end – 3½ years later.
Dr. Harry Ironside wrote in his helpful commentary, simply titled Matthew: “The great tribulation in its full sense will begin in the midst of the seventieth week – that is, of the last seven years of Daniel’s great time-prophecy” (p. 318). He then adds that it will last 3½ years.
John Walvoord, who for many years served as president for one our finest seminaries, wrote in his commentary, Matthew: Thy Kingdom Come: “The great tribulation, accordingly, is a specific period of time beginning with the abomination of desolation and closing with the second coming of Christ, in the light of Daniel’s prophecies and confirmed by reference to forty-two months” (p. 188).
John MacArthur wrote in his commentary, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Matthew 24-28: “Jesus states unequivocally that the central sign of His return will occur immediately after the tribulation of those days, that is, the end of the Great tribulation (v. 21), the second three and a half years of the seven-year Tribulation period” (p. 50).
If the Great Tribulation is 3½ years in duration, how are we to understand the Lord’s teaching that it will be shortened? He told His disciples: “And if those days had not been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short” (Matthew 24:22). The question of importance is, In what way is the Great Tribulation shortened?
Harry Ironside writes of the Great Tribulation: “So terrible will be the conditions that unless God in mercy shortens the days there should no flesh be saved. But for the sake of the elect – not the elect of the Church but of Israel – He will shorten the days” (p. 320).
He then goes on to explain how the days of the Great Tribulation are shortened: “They are numbered as actually 1260 days in the Book of Revelation. This would be three-and-one-half years, made up of thirty-day months, and so considerably shorter than the full time if the years were counted as of 365 days each” (p. 320).
The problem with Ironside’s view is that Daniel’s entire 70-week prophecy is based on the Jewish lunar calendar of 360-day years. If the explanation for the shortened Great Tribulation is based upon a 360-day lunar year as against a 365-day solar year, then the first 3½ years must also be shortened. The same would apply for the entire 70th Week prophecy. In such a scenario, the Lord’s statement that “for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short” becomes meaningless.
John Walvoord explained the shortened tribulation this way: “Jesus also predicted that the period would be ‘shortened’ (v. 22), literally, terminated or cut off (Gr. ekolobothesan). This does not mean that the period will be less than three-and-one-half years, but that it will be definitely terminated suddenly by the second coming of Christ” (p. 188).
The problem with Walvoord’s explanation is that the Greek word translated “shortened” (koloboo) doesn’t mean “terminated” or “suddenly,” as he suggests. According to Arndt & Gingrich in the classic work A Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, the word koloboo means to “cut off, cut short, mutilate, or curtail.”
When Jesus taught that the “Great Tribulation” would be “shortened,” He was simply stating that it would be “suddenly terminated.” He was teaching that it would be “cut short” – or “amputated” – that something would occur that would bring the Great Tribulation to an end before the fully intended purposes of the Antichrist could be realized.
John MacArthur, in explaining “cut short,” wrote: “Koloboo [“cut short”] can carry the idea of stopping instantly, and that could be the meaning of this context.” MacArthur is one of our finest Bible expositors, nonetheless, I must take issue with his comments in this instance. “Cut short” does not mean to stop “instantly,” unless the idea of “amputation,” or “termination,” earlier than planned is included. He goes on to say: “Since the length of the Great Tribulation is repeatedly stated as being divinely ordained at three and one half years, its length could not be reduced without God’s contradicting His own Word” (p. 45).
Nowhere in the Word of God is the Great Tribulation ever “divinely ordained” to last 3½ years. To be sure, the last half of Daniel’s 70th Week is repeatedly referred to as lasting for 3½ years. This period of time is defined in days: “Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for 1,260 days” (Revelation 12:6). A prophetic year is 360 days; 3½ years is 1,260 days.
This time period is also directly defined in months: “A mouth was given to him speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two [42] months was given to him” (Revelation 13:5). This is 3½ years.
The same time period is also referred to in years: “But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time [1 year], times [2 years], and half a time [½ year], away from the presence of the serpent” (Revelation 12:14). Again, the period is 3½ years. Nowhere is the last half of Daniel’s 70th Week ever referred to as the Great Tribulation.
MacArthur’s circular argument (and it is embraced by many) goes like this: (1) The Great Tribulation is the same as the last half of Daniel’s 70th Week. (2) The last half of Daniel’s 70th Week is 3½ years. (3) Therefore, the Great Tribulation is 3½ years in duration and not subject to being shortened.
However, he never demonstrates that the Great Tribulation and the last half of Daniel’s 70 Weeks are synonymous. Nonetheless, on that that assumption he concludes that the Great Tribulation is incapable of being shortened – that it must be 3½ years in duration.
If the Great Tribulation is not the same as the last 3½ years of Daniel’s 70th Week, what is it? Many Bible teachers have called attention to the similarity between the Lord’s teaching in Matthew 24 and the 4 horses and riders of the apocalypse (Revelation 6). Let’s look at this comparison.
Matthew 24:5: “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will mislead many people.” Revelation 6:1-2 tells us that the first seal is the white horse and rider. He is understood to represent false prophets personified in the Antichrist who conquers by deception.
Matthew 24:6-7a: “And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” Revelation 6:3-4 says that the second seal is the red horse and rider. He is given a sword and has power to conquer through war.
Matthew 24:7b: “And there will be famines.” Revelation 6:5-6 tells us that the third seal is the black horse and rider. He is given a scale to measure the food supply. He will bring famine.
Matthew 24:7c-8: “… [and pestilences] and earthquakes in various places. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains.” According to Revelation 6:7-8, the 4th seal is the pale horse and rider. He represents death and pestilence. He kills with sword, hunger, and beasts of the earth.
Matthew 24:9: “Then they will hand you over to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.” Revelation 6:9-11 tells us that the 5th seal is a faithful remnant who are martyred “for the word of God, and for the testimony which the held.
Matthew 24:29: “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” Revelation 6:12-13 speaks of the 6th seal, which reveals cosmic disturbance: “And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind.”
The 5th seal (Revelation 6:9-11) represents a faithful remnant which is martyred “for the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained.” And in the parallel Olivet Discourse the Lord teaches: “Then they will hand you over to tribulation and kill you [the word translated “tribulation” is thlipsis and is referring to the Great Tribulation], and you will be hated by all nations because of My name” (Matthew 24:9).
The Great Tribulation of which the Lord speaks in Matthew 24, then, is the 5th seal of Revelation 6. It begins at the midpoint of Daniel’s 70th Week and is “shortened.”
That which cuts the Great Tribulation short is the 6th seal which, when opened, results in cosmic disturbance. “Cosmic disturbance” means something happens in the heavens to the sun, moon, and stars (Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24-25; Luke 21:25; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 6:12-13).
Cosmic disturbance is the clear indicator that the Day of the Lord is about to begin.
The prophet Joel wrote: “I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire, and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes” (Joel 2:30-31).
Isaiah wrote:
Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, cruel, with fury
and burning anger, to make the land a desolation; and He
will exterminate its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven
and their constellations will not flash their light; the sun will
be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light.
So I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for
their wrongdoing; I will also put an end to the audacity of the
proud and humiliate the arrogance of the tyrants” (Isaiah 13:9-11).
Following the opening of the 6th seal, God will rapture those who belong to Him and begin His judgment of the unsaved world. The Lord Jesus taught:
But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun
will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the
stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will
be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in
the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they
will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power
and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet
blast, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds,
from one end of the sky to the other (Matthew 24:29-31).
The Great Tribulation: Whom does it Impact?
A critically important question for all believers is the identity of the “elect” in the Olivet Discourse who will experience the Great Tribulation.
Many Bible teachers suggest that the elect cannot be referring to the Church. They argue that the Church is raptured before Daniel’s 70th Week begins and therefore cannot be the elect of Matthew 24:31. They also teach that Matthew is the Gospel of the Kingdom. It is Jewish, and the Church cannot be found in it because it did not begin until Pentecost (Acts 2).
Let’s examine these contentions.
First, the Olivet Discourse is also found in Mark 13 and Luke 21. Therefore, one cannot negate any Church truth from Matthew on the grounds it is the Jewish Gospel. Mark and Luke contain the same truth.
Second, as early as Matthew 16, the Lord spoke of the Church: “I will build my church; and the gates of hell [hades] shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Therefore, the Church was not an unknown entity by the time Matthew 24 is reached.
Third, in Matthew 28, Jesus gave the Great Commission. In it He commanded: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). He gave this command to His 11 disciples before the Church began on Pentecost. He was not committing to unsaved Israel the task of world evangelism.
The Lord had earlier condemned the Jewish leadership for their hypocrisy (Matthew 23:13-36). He warned the nation that their house would be a desolation and that they would not see Him until they were ready to say, “Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matthew 23:37-39).
It is the Church which is to evangelize the world. Paul, though himself Jewish, wrote to the Church at Ephesus: “So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:19-20).
It is the Church – not Israel – which is built upon the apostles. Instruction given to the apostles – whether in the Olivet Discourse or the Great Commission – is intended for the Church.
Fourth, the Lord gave His Upper Room Discourse to His disciples the night before His crucifixion. This was only two day after He gave the Olivet Discourse. The occasion of their gathering in the upper room was the observance of the Passover dinner (the “Seder”).
The entire context was Jewish; yet on that occasion the Lord instituted the Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26:17-30), which is uniquely a Church ordinance.
More than that, during the Jewish Passover, while speaking to His Jewish disciples, the Lord taught Church truth concerning the Rapture. He said to His disciples:
Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also
in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so,
I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and
will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be (John 14:1-3).
The “you” in the expression, “I go to prepare a place for you,” is referring to the Church, which will experience rapture at the Lord’s coming.
To suggest that in the upper room the Lord could teach His Jewish disciples Church truth (the Communion and Rapture), but 2 days earlier in the Olivet Discourse He could not be speaking of the Church or its rapture because the Church had not yet begun or because Matthew was the Jewish Gospel is simply inconsistent with the Scriptures.
The setting of the upper room was appropriately in a Jewish context because “salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22). The disciples, however, represented the Church.
The question remains, Who are the “elect” which will encounter the Antichrist and suffer the persecution associated with his emergence? Are they to be identified with Israel, or is the term “elect” referring to Church believers?
The Greek word for “elect” is eklektos, which means “chosen out, selected, to be chosen as a recipient of special privilege.” The word “elect” is found 16 times in the New Testament. Add to “elect” the words “elects” and “election” and there is a total of 23 usages in the New Testament.
It is used once of “chosen [elect] angels” (1 Timothy 5:21). It is used once of the Lord Jesus Christ who is referred to as “a chief corner stone, elect [chosen], precious” (1 Peter 2:6). It is used of all believers: “… will God not bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night, and will He delay long for them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth” (Luke 18:7-8).
Excluding the 6 usages in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:22, 24, 31; Mark 13:20, 22, 27) and the use of “elect” for angels and the Lord, as cited above, in every other instance the word “elect” in the New Testament refers to those who are members of the Church:
- “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect” (Romans 8:33).
- “Put on therefore, as the elect of God” (Colossians 3:12).
- “Therefore, I endure all things for the elect’s sake” (2 Timothy 2:10).
- “Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect” (Titus 1:1).
- “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (1 Peter 1:2).
- “The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth” (2 John 1).
Not once in the New Testament is Israel ever called the “elect.” If we are to believe that in the 6 usages in the Olivet Discourse of the word “elect” is to be understood as referring to Israel rather than its normal usage for the Church, clear and compelling evidence must be cited. The reality is that no such clear and compelling evidence must be cited.
The reason for denying that the word “elect” is referring to the Church in Matthew 24 is not because of the meaning or usage of the word, but because if the “elect” refers to the Church, pretribulation rapturism is destroyed.
When the Lord Jesus comes again, He will not come as a usurper to a kingdom to which He does not have a legal right. Instead, He will come as the Lion of the tribe of Judah – Son of David – and heir to David’s throne. As the bona fide King of Israel, He will become King of all kings.
Therefore, the Antichrist will seek to rule the world from Jerusalem. He will ask the Jews to give him their allegiance, and many – believing him to be a political deliverer – will gladly do so. A believing remnant – part of the “elect” – will refuse. This will trigger the Great Tribulation and the warning by the Lord to flee. The Antichrist will seek to kill this believing Jewish remnant (Revelation 12:13-16).
He will then turn his attention to the elect worldwide. John describes that event this way:
So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went
off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep
the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of
Jesus” (Revelation 12:17; compare with Matthew 24:9 and Revelation 6:9).
The Great Tribulation will be a time of unprecedented persecution. It will begin in the Middle of Daniel’s 70th Week. It does not last 3½ years. It is the 5th seal of Revelation 6. It will impact the elect. The “elect” refers to the Church. The persecution will start at Jerusalem and spread to believers worldwide. This time of persecution with be shortened by the cosmic disturbance which begins with the opening of the 6th seal and which announces the beginning of the Day of the Lord and rapture of the Church.
Believers are not exempted from the Great Tribulation. They are exempted from the outpouring of God’s wrath against a godless and unrepentant world.
The Great Tribulation is not something for the believer to fear – but is something to be understood for victorious living. The Lord taught, “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).
The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is called to be soldiers – and down through the years many have had to give their last ounce of devotion in the service of their King. They knew, as we must know, that we have a blessed hope. If we are called upon to give our lives, we will be resurrected at His coming. If we are that one generation still living, we shall be raptured.
It either case, believers are on the winning side of history.
Marv Rosenthal, founder and President of Zion’s Hope, was an acclaimed international Bible teacher for almost 6 decades.
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