The Tribulation -- Is it a Reality?
The Tribulation -- Is it a Reality?
Along with all of the other speculations being tossed around by
the millennialists and dispensationalists, is the fantasy that there
will be a terrible tribulation, the likes of which the entire world
has never ever known. Today on the program, I want to discuss this
with you, because I believe they are really guessing -- and they are
guessing wrong. Stay with us.
One writer put the millennial view as follows: "The great
tribulation will be the most terrible time of trouble in all of human
history. Jesus said so. It will even be more devastating to the
Jews than Hitler's holocaust!" That comes from Mr. Herbert Vander
Lugt. It is found in a pamphlet called, "Perhaps Today, The Rapture
of the Church." page 21. It is a publication of the Radio Bible
Class, a very popular and widely heard national radio program. Mr.
Lugt argues that this tribulation period won't last long -- only
three and a half years and during this time he imagines that the
nation of Israel will turn back to Jehovah, be converted to Christ,
and begin an unprecedented preaching campaign to convert the entire
world. Listen to Mr. Hal Lindsey. "During the Tribulation the
spotlight is on the Jew -- in the Book of Revelation the Jew is
responsible for evangelizing the world again..." The Late Great
Planet Earth, page 131. Will wonders never cease? Just how such
strange interpretations are extracted from the word of God is indeed
a wonder.
The truth is that there is nothing even remotely like a period
of time that is to be a future time of Tribulation to anyone. The
passage that is so badly misused is Matthew 24:20-21. It reads, "But
pray that your flight may not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath; for
then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred
since the beginning of the world." Taken in its context, there is
nothing very difficult to understand here in this verse. We will see
momentarily that there is really nothing at all future in this
protective promise made by Jesus to His disciples.
The millennialists tie Deuteronomy 4:30 and Matthew 24:21
together and come up with some fanciful ideas about the future. The
Old Testament passage reads, "When you are in distress and all these
things have come upon you, in the latter days, you will return to the
Lord your God and listen to His voice." This is then attached to
this false idea of some future "tribulation period" when the Jewish
nation will all become disciples of Jesus Christ.
In order to understand this there are certain things found in
Matthew 24 that absolutely must be taken into consideration. Luke
19:43,44 gives us the part of Jesus' instructions given just before
what is reported in Matthew 24. It reads, "For the days shall come
upon thee, when thine enemies shall cast up a bank about thee, and
compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall dash
thee to the ground, and thy children with thee, and they shall not
leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knowest not the
time of thy visitation." This is clearly a prophecy of the
destruction of Jerusalem. The armies of the Roman Empire laid siege
to Jerusalem in A.D. 68 and for two years literally starved the city
to death. Luke's parallel account of Matthew 24 is found in Luke
chapter 21. Notice verse 20. "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by
armies then recognize that her desolation is at hand."
Millennialists make much out of the phrase "abomination of
desolation." They think it is something yet to be done to the temple
which somehow miraculously is to be rebuilt in Jerusalem. In the
context, Jesus equates the destruction of Jerusalem, with all the
atrocities that were committed, with the "abomination that makes
desolate."
I am not denying that the Bible teaches tribulation. I am
denying that it is some sort of prelude to the end of time and to the
imagined events that are on the schedule of the dispensationalists.
The Bible teaches that Jews of the Old Testament did suffer terrible
tribulations. Think back to the numerous times they were taken
captive by other nations. The Bible also teaches that Christians
suffer for the name of Christ. Acts is a record of the first
tribulations through which the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ
passed. Read Acts 5:40 with me. "... and after calling the apostles
in, they flogged them and ordered them to speak no more in the name
of Jesus, and then released them." The next verse says, "And every
day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on
teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ." So you see, the
tribulation was a part of early Christianity and will continue to be
a long as time will last. We should also remember the Paul passed
the warning of Jesus down to the succeeding generations. He told
Timothy, "Yea, and all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution" (II Timothy 3:12).
The destruction of Jerusalem was that greatest of all
tribulations anyone has ever witnessed. When the Roman army cut
Jerusalem off from any outside help, gradually the city simply
starved to death. Josephus was a Jew, employed by Rome, to write a
history of the Jewish people. His monumental work "Wars of the
Jews," and "Antiquities of the Jews" gives us much information about
what actually took place. He reported that in Jerusalem, the Zealot
party revolted against Roman authority. They fell on people who
differed with them and slaughtered over 12,000 of them. The horror
spread through the city. Josephus said that people were so terrified
that they withheld their tears, refusing to weep openly for their own
dead, fearing they would suffer the same fate. (War, IV., 5:3).
The slaughter within the city walls continued until the outer
temple "overflowed with blood." In only one day near 9,000 corpses
littered the temple grounds. Even those who came to offer sacrifice
were slain and their blood mingled with the blood of the sacrifice
they would have offered. The bodies of both priests and the profane
were mixed together with the carcasses of beasts in what Josephus
describes as "lakes of blood in the court of the temple" (Wars,
V,.1:5). He then began a description of the starvation in the city.
Hunger caused some to try and sneak out of the city under the cloak
of darkness in search of food. Those who were caught were crucified
in plain view of the walls of Jerusalem. The Romans often nailed
several to the same torture stake (Wars V.11:1:1). There were
reports of cannibalism, even parents eating their own offsprings
When Jerusalem finally fell the Romans spread the slaughter to
the entire countryside. It has been described as great tribulation
resulting from famine, slaughter, and even cruel brutality inflicted
on Jews, sometimes by members of their own families. This adds
credence to Christ's assessment of a tribulation such as the world
has ever known, or ever shall have know.
It is impossible to harmonize the theory of millennialism and
the Bible. You see, for one thing, the millennialists argue that the
saints will not even be on earth when this imaginary "Tribulation"
takes place. Their theory is that they will be secreted away
somewhere in a lovely place they call "The Rapture." How could what
Jesus said have had any relevance at all to His disciples? Why would
He tell them they should pray that their flight not be in winter or
on a Sabbath day? The flight He had in mind was certainly not the
flight away to this unrealistic and fanciful Rapture. Their flight
was from the city of Jerusalem. They were warned that when armies
encircled Jerusalem, they should then leave for their own safety. If
they had to leave in winter, that would make their travel very
difficult. Travel to and from Jerusalem on the Sabbath Day was
difficult due to the congested streets and roads. So, He told them
in advance what to look for when this tribulation was to take place.
And, it certainly was not something far down the distant future that
would introduce the end of time.
One other thought related to Matthew 24. Verse 9 reads, "Then
they will delier you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be
hated by all nations for My name's sake." As you read Acts of the
Apostles you will see this fulfilled before your very eyes. And the
persecution was not against the Jews as a nation; it was against
young men like Stephen, against veteran aposltes like Paul, against
Christians in general. Paul himself once participated in this
persecution against the church, binding men and women and putting
them in prison. This laid heavily on his great heart and for years
after he continued to express his deepest and most sincere regrets
(Galatians 1:13, for example, where he wrote, "For you have heard of
my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the
church of God beyond measure, and tried to destroy it. The
persecutor, however, became one of the persecuted as he converted to
Christ and began serving the Lord as a chosen ambassador to the
Gentiles.
In Matthew 24, the tribulation is meantioned as "great
tribulation" in verse 24. Verse 24 is not a different tribulation
from the tribulation in verse 9. The tribulation was to extend to
everyone who was in anyway remotely connected with Jerusalem, for
Jerusalem was the target of the Roman wrath. It was Jerusalem they
were going to destroy and in so doing effectively put an end to what
Rome regarded as a rival to their power. This laid the ground for a
later deification of the Roman Caesar as a god, to be worshipped and
admired by all. The "great tribulation" is over and done with in the
destruction of Jerusalem, the scattering of Christians, and
dispersion of Jews. But the tribulation that is perpetrated against
those who serve God remains. It may take different forms in
different ages, but it will always be there. The Christians is urged
to remain faithful, even unto death, and a victor's crown is the
promised reward. Those who endure faithfully unto the end will be
saved (Matthew 10:22).
Let me urge you to reject speculations and accept the
fundamental simple truth of the Lord's holy word. Just accept what
you know is factual and simple to comprehend. In so doing, you will
be sure that freedom in Christ is yours to enjoy. Remember, Jesus
said, "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free"
(John 8:32).
If you have a question about this, or about anything related to
it, or even about other Bible topics, we would really like to try and
help you. If you want more materials on the end of time, and what we
have been teaching for the past several weeks, write us or call us.
Our mailing address is 1609 Parkside Drive, Bowling Green, KY. 42101
and our phone number is 842-7880. Thank you for your attention
today, and you are urged to listen to our program next Lord's Day.
Until then, God bless and keep you and yours. Good bye.
Radio Sermon No 53, Page 1
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Children's NT Studies
