What is the Great Tribulation?

Besides the application of this term to any time of distress, and its special reference to this dispensation, respecting which it is said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation," John 16:33 — the Lord spoke of a distinct period of distress, such as never had been, or should be again. Matt. 24:21-29. These verses refer to a great tribulation that shall fall upon the Jews in a future day: cf. Jer. 30:7 and Dan. 12:1. In Rev. 7:14 a great multitude is referred to that have come out of the great tribulation, but these are from the nations, hence this tribulation is not the same as that which will fall specially on the Jews, though both may take place at the same time. In Rev. 2:22 a 'great tribulation' is spoken of, but it is doubtless general, and not the same as the above.

During the first three-and-a-half years of this tribulation period, God's providential judgements will fall upon the earth (famine, wars, etc., Rev. 6ff.). The last three-and-a-half years will be much worse – a time of unparalleled trouble: ‘For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be' (Matt. 24:21). This is the great tribulation. This second half-week is spoken of as three-and-a-half years (or ‘times'), as 42 months, and as 1,260 days in Revelation 11–13 etc. Oppression will come from the Jewish ‘antichrist' and from the government of the re-established Roman Empire (the first ‘beast' of Rev. 13). In addition to this, God's direct judgments fall upon the earth (see Rev. 6-19).

304 Such will be the moral state of things during the great tribulation which is to come on the earth. Two passages in the prophets (Jer. 30:7, and Dan. 12:1), as well as two passages in the gospel (Matt. 24:21 and Mark 13:19), tell us of this great tribulation. There we remark that it will fall more especially on the Jews, although it may happen that the Gentiles also shall suffer from it. It is to the sorrows of this crisis that the sufferings of that remnant refer, which we find on the scene in the Psalms. The tribulation will take place during the latter half of the last week mentioned in the book of Daniel (chap. 9), and will last until the Lord's appearing.

At the time of the end the abomination of desolation, spoken of in Daniel 12:11, is to be found in the holy place, and Jerusalem is in question, as verse 16 shows. Evidently there again will be a temple with its holy place at the time of the end, to be desecrated by this supremely abominable idolatry. At this time will be fulfilled the prophecy of Matt. 12:43-45: the evil spirit of idolatry will enter into the people with seven-fold force, and the mass of them will accept this abomination standing in the holy place — most probably "the image of the beast," spoken of in Revelation 13:14-15. Because of this crowning iniquity desolation will fall upon them in the government of God. Now the setting up of this abomination is to be the signal to the godly that the predicted great tribulation is begun, and that their safety lies in flight from Jerusalem and Judaea, where the furnace of affliction will be at its hottest. The Lord was speaking to His disciples, who at that moment were just godly Israelites surrounding their Messiah on earth, though presently they were to be built into the foundation of the church that was to be. Hence at that moment they represented, not the church, but the godly remnant of Israel, still carefully observing the law of the sabbath (verse 20), and many of them located in Judaea. Instant flight was to be their course. This agrees with what is set forth symbolically in Revelation 12:6.

The great tribulation is wholly unprecedented and never to be equalled, let alone surpassed. This the Lord states in verse 21; and the reason of it is, that as the book of Revelation shows, it will be a time of infliction of wrath from heaven — the outpouring of the vials of judgment. It will not be merely a case of men afflicting men, or a nation scourging other nations, as we see so strikingly today, but of God scourging the nations as He settles His accounts with them. Wrath from God is "revealed from heaven" (Rom. 1:18), though not yet executed, and as far as the nations are concerned it will fall at this time. Nations as such are only found in this world; they do not exist beyond the grave, though the men composing them do.

There will be elect souls on earth during the tribulation and for their sake it will be cut short, as verse 22 tells us: as it says in Romans 9:28. the Lord will make "a short work … upon the earth," and this in order that a remnant may be saved. Today God is dispensing mercy through the Gospel, and He has made a very lengthy work of it, extending to nineteen centuries: when He dispenses wrath He will make swift work, cutting it short in righteousness. A brief three and a half years will cover it, as other scriptures show. Thus the goodness of God will be manifested both in mercy and in wrath.

The tribulation comes next (vv. 21, 22). “In the world ye have tribulation” applies to the Christian in principle, but no specific tribulation is ever held out for him. He should expect it always. All who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. The tribulation beyond parallel even for the Jews is during the last three-and-a-half years from the setting up of the abomination of desolation in the sanctuary. It is a judicial dealing of God through their enemies because of their bold apostasy. It has nothing to do with the Christian except that merely professing Christian fully share it. The Gentiles as such play their part in it; so we read in Revelation 7 of “the great tribulation” out of which comes a crowd of faithful ones who washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. The Jews and the Gentiles in that latter day will be thus visited in their respective measures, when the Christians are no longer here but in heaven with Christ. Those days are cut short for the elect's sake: otherwise no flesh would be saved. Here the Lord speaks of Jewish disciples preserved on earth for His kingdom, not of Christians who endure suffering and then reign with Him when changed at His coming, which is not even supposed in this question.

The "great tribulation" will be the most dreadful the world has ever seen or ever will see. It is called in Jeremiah 30:7 "the time of Jacob's trouble," for Israel will be the center of it; get Revelation 3:10 speaks of this as "the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." All the world therefore will have its share in this unparalleled time of suffering. But this same verse shows that the church, having been raptured to heaven, will have no part in that hour. Except for the mercy of God in shortening those days, no flesh should be saved. For the Lord will appear in less than the full three and one half years, when many nations, gathered in Israel, will be determined to exterminate one another. While the day of grace has been lengthened far beyond any indication that Old Testament prophecy gave concerning it (now over 1950 years), the day of judgment will be shortened. This appears to be indicated in Rev.12:6, where the remnant of Israel, fleeing out of Jerusalem to the wilderness, will be sustained of God for 1260 days, 18 days short of the three and a half years. When the Lord appears to deliver her, she will no longer need this refuge.

These four chapters begin then with the declaration of the full deliverance both of Israel and Judah (Jer. 30:1-3). God had given the land to their fathers, and it shall yet be possessed by them according to God’s Word; but immediately we are reminded of a moment of great anguish which must come just before this is fully accomplished. It will be like the travail of a woman before the joy of a man-child’s birth (vv. 4-6). “Alas!” cries the prophet, “for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even THE TIME OF JACOB’S TROUBLE; but he shall be saved out of it” (v. 7). It was so with Jacob personally: it shall be so with his descendants. There was a certain night which stands out in Jacob’s history: there will be a certain time of tribulation, of great tribulation, which shall distinguish Israel’s history. It will indeed come upon all the world after our Lord Jesus Christ has taken from the world the assembly, His bride, to be with Him. It will truly be “the great tribulation” (Rev. 7:14), not simply “tribulation” as now, or a time of tribulation as sometimes happens, but it will be unparalleled; yet, though the whole world will be affected by it, the heaviest weight will fall upon the Jews; and even they, who have suffered so much, will never have known before such “a time of trouble” (Dan. 12:1); nevertheless, as Jacob was freed from serving another, so we are told in verse 8, Israel also shall be freed from the future yoke of Babylon, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him. The Jews, however, shall not only be freed from bondage, but as being thus liberated, they shall have their long-looked-for Messiah as their glorious King; the true David, the beloved One shall return to them, and “they shall serve the Lord their God and David [‘The Beloved’] their king” (v. 9). They shall then know that our Lord Jesus Christ whom they rejected is truly the preserved Seed of David, raised as He was from among the dead by God, who had hidden Him in the heavens until this time, when His appearing shall show Him again to the troubled and repentant of Israel, when in deep distress and anguish they will gladly receive Him, owning Him like Thomas to be their Lord and their God.

Having been permitted to see, through John, the victorious and worshipping Gentile throng, their character and blessing are now unfolded. "And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of [the] great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (vv. 13, 14.) Remark, first, how every family in heaven is interested in the activities of God and the Lamb both in grace and government, and also how closely the glorified in heaven is bound up with the redeemed on earth. It is only in our minds that heaven and earth are so widely sundered. The angels, as we have seen, delight in beholding this Gentile throng; and now one of the elders steps forth (otherwise we would not have known that they were in the scene), and, as commissioned, explains to John who this multitude are. First, then, they have come out of the great tribulation. It is not only, as in our translation, great, but emphatically the great tribulation, the time referred to, as already indicated, in Rev. 3:10. It is not the same thing as "Jacob's trouble," though undoubtedly connected with, if not springing out of it; and it will occur during the three years and a half of antichrist's fearful sway, sustained as he will be by the head of the western empire, the first beast of Revelation 13. It is to this same period our blessed Lord refers when He says, "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." (Matt. 24:21.) He speaks of the' Jewish trouble, while "the great tribulation" has reference to the oppression and persecution through which the Gentiles will have to pass. In the contemplation of this fearful event, it is no small consolation to find that God will use the unexampled sorrows of that day, if on the one hand for the chastisement of the haughty peoples of the earth, on the other hand for the blessing of this vast throng of souls. They will come out of this terrible tribulation, and, moreover, they will have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. It is most interesting to note that in all dispensations every family of the saved will alike have to trace all their blessing back to the efficacy of the blood of the Lamb.*

This time of trouble therefore is its last half — the time and times and the dividing of time of Daniel 7:25; the time, times, and an half of verse 7 of this chapter; and the 1,260 days, or forty-two months of Revelation. Satan is the instigator of the trouble; but his agents, as we learn elsewhere, will be the two great enemies of the faithful remnant among the Jews, the two beasts of Rev. 13, and their enemy from without, the Assyrian. But while Satan is the prime mover of all the sorrow through which Daniel's people will have to pass, it must be borne in mind that God uses it as His judicial rod to punish His people for their crowning sin in the rejection of their Messiah. Restored to their land, after the captivity in Babylon, Christ came in the fulness of time, and was born in Bethlehem, according to the prediction of their prophets, and His forerunner, John the Baptist, proclaimed His advent; but when He came to His own, His own received Him not; they refused and rejected Him, even going so far as to say, "We have no king but Caesar," and to accept the guilt of His death, crying, "His blood be on us, and on our children." God could not but chastise the guilty nation, and this "time of trouble" is the period during which His rod, whatever the instruments, will fall in successive and ever heavier strokes until "the indignation be accomplished."

Much tribulation lies before each disciple—each true believer. It is this through which we must all pass; not, however, through the “great tribulation” spoken of, for instance, in Revelation 7:14, because, ere that comes, every saint of this dispensation, whether dead or living—all that are Christ’s—shall have been caught up to be for ever with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:13-18), far removed, therefore, from a judgment which shall be as special as it shall be “great.” But “much tribulation” is continuous. It may assume various forms; it may be Satanic; it may arise from the hatred of the world, or from false brethren in the way of persecution; or it may come from domestic trial, as in the case of Job.