Dear editor,
Of course, this is my understanding but usable for illustration.
Biblically, the Christian Tribulation is a random amount of earthly time, that may have already begun, that will be filled with natural disasters, random chaos and financial disaster, that will get worse and worse until God [for the sake of believers] will bring it to an end.
The end will include the visible second coming of Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords to take His people home to upper heaven temporarily and leave the rest of the planet desolate for a millennium. Then, after the millennium, a new heaven and earth will be brought back here from the upper heaven [Rev. 21:1], with the saved in it. Armageddon will occur after Satan is unbound, and then the saved will forever inherit a whole sin-free planet.
Now, some theologians will say no, the Tribulation is a determinable amount of time; it's seven years. To make it seven years, you have to conclude that God can’t count correctly. In Daniel 9:24, the Israelites were given 70 weeks — or 490 days or 490 years in prophetic time, or basically up through Jesus’ death — to make an end of sin and to accept ‘the Most Holy.'
Obviously, they didn’t recognize Him or accept Him but instead found a way to crucify Him.
Now over the years since then, there has been perpetrated a theological conclusion that only 69 weeks occurred by Jesus’ death, so a final week is floating somewhere out there in the future. A week is seven days, a prophetical day is one year, so seven years are floating out there somewhere and it will randomly be called ‘The Tribulation’ when it shows up. Then the end of sin and the accepting of the Most Holy will occur when the seven years ends.
No, God —via Gabriel — gave Israel 70 weeks and the 70th week came after the 69th week, just like you would have expected it to. So, no floating week, no biblical justification for a seven-year Tribulation.
Am I sure?
Well, if I knew when it started and I knew it was seven years, then I could tell you when Christ would come. But, the Bible does say that no one will know that time, except God the Father.
The Tribulation is necessary as a ‘last hurrah’ for Satan. Satan has been trying to show Earth that God’s law — lawlessness defined first in John 3:4 — is punitive and restrictive. So, Satan says to deny God’s law and focus on the pleasures of sin. Do the opposite of God’s law and you’ll live happier your whole life.
As the world heeds Satan’s direction, the Holy Spirit slowly backs away so that all can see the end result of sin. Satan’s first lie —starting with Eve — included ‘listen to me’ and all will be well.
Was it?
During the tribulation, the gospel will be spreading to the ends of the earth. When it gets there, then a human's last chance to "choose Jesus" and "reject Satan’ will have occurred.
The choosers of Jesus’ non-sin plan will go with Him to heaven when He comes. The accepters of Satan’s sin plan will not be going.
JIM MOORE
Pace
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This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Analyzing the Christian Tribulation