The Great Tribulation - Part 1

At the beginning of my earlier message - "The Church Age - Part 1" I referred to what John heard from the Lord:

"Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this" (Rev. 1:19).

So far we have studied "The things which you have seen" - corresponds to Chapter 1 of the book of Revelation and "the things which are" - corresponds to the "Church Age" in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3. "The things which will take place after this," which corresponds to the remaining Chapters - (Chapter 4 to Chapter 22), will be my forthcoming messages.

We have already studied Chapter 4 and 5 of the book of Revelation in my messages - "The Rapture and the Throne of God" and "The Seven-sealed Scroll" respectively. Now the Great Tribulation starts in Chapter 6, where our Lord opens the first seal in the scroll that has seven seals.

Many Bible teachers said the period of the Great Tribulation will last seven years. Where in the Bible do we see that time frame give, since the exact words, "seven years of tribulation" are not found anywhere in the Sripture? The answer is found in the book of Daniel, to which the book of Revelation is closely related. A deeper and clearer understanding can be found by interpreting them together.

Daniel's Seventy Weeks

Daniel was one of the Jews taken captive to Babylon when the kingdom of Judah fell in 605 B.C.. While reading the book of Jeremiah there, he came across the prophecy that said Israel would return home after seventy years. To know exactly when that would happen, he prayed earnestly to God. An angel of the Lord appeared to him and showed him in detail not only the return of Israel to its land, but also what would happen from then to the end of the world. Please read Daniel 9:24 - 27.

The angel Gabriel came and told Daniel that seventy weeks would be determined upon "your people," the people of Judah, and "your holy city," Jerusalem. Since one week in the Bible signifies seven years, seventy weeks is 490 years.

Therefore the prophecy meant that after 490 years had passed, the transgression would be finished, sins would end, reconciliation for inequity would be made forever, everlasting righteousness would be brought in, all the visions and prophecies would come to pass, and the most Holy - the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ - would come to redeem the world.

"Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; ..." (Verse 25, emphasis added).

Our Lord Jesus Christ was referred to as "the Prince." Gabriel said that from the going forth of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah the Prince, would be 7 weeks and 62 weeks (total of 69 weeks). And on March 14, 445 years before Jesus was born, King Artaxerxes of Persia gave an order to restore Jerusalem.

As a result, some of the children of Israel who had been carried away to Babylon as captives returned home. On April 6, A.D. 32, 69 weeks or 484 years after that, Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, so the prophecy was fulfilled precisely - this includes leap years!

"The he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate" (Verse 27, emphasis added).

Notice that "he" mentioned in verse 27 refers the Antichrist (probably a Roman emperor). He will confirm the covenant with many Jews for seven year. However, in the middle of that period, after three and one-half years (the middle of the week), he will break the covenant and cause the worship of the Jew to cease. Thus, during the first part of the Great Tribulation the persecution will be less intense.

During the second three and one-half years, the Antichrist will completely break the covenant with the Jews. He will enter the temple and claim to be the king. This will be the period of severe tribulation, but "that which is determined" (some Bible teachers named it as "God's wrath") will be poured upon the Antichrist and his followers - "the desolate."

"And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary" (Verse 26).

In Daniel 9:26 is a prophecy about what would happen during the Church Age after the resurrection of Jesus. A Roman general named Titus came with his army and destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70, fulfilling the part of the prophecy saying, "the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary" (Daniel 9:26). At the end of the Church Age, which has so far lasted slightly more than 2000 years, the Antichrist will appear and begin the Great Tribulation.

Daniel 9 has deeper theological implications that go beyong the scope of this message, but I trust you can see now why Bible scholars conclude the Great Tribulation will be seven years long. It will be the last period in which God exhorts the Jews, His chosen people, to repent. For the Gentiles it will be a period in which they betray Jesus Christ and go through torment and destruction to the end. Let us look now at what will happen during the Great Tribulation.

The opening of the Seven Seals (Rev. 6:1 - 17)

The first seal: The conqueror riding on the white horse (Rev. 6:1, 2)

As John in the Spirit watched these future events unfold, Jesus opened the first of the seven seals on the scroll. Then one of the four living creatures, with a voice like thunder, said to John, "Come and see."

The "counqueror" was not Jesus but the Antichrist:

It is easy to make the mistake of interpreting this figure riding on a white horse to be Jesus. The Great Tribulation had already begun, however, and Jesus was in heaven, opeing the first seal. Therefore to suppose that Jesus rode on a white horse "went out conquering and to conquer" (Verse 2) doesn't fit the time sequence, nor it is acceptable from a logical point of view. There are several reasons this must take place at the outset of the Great Tribulation:

1. The Church has already been carried into heaven. Jesus works through the Church and the Holy Spirit, but as we saw in Revelation 4, the Church has already gone through the open door of heaven, accompanied by the Holy Spirit. Hence, the age of grace, the Church age, has ended. Therefore, to interpret Rev. 6:2 as saying Jesus appears again, riding on a white horse and preaching the gospel - "conquering, and to conquer," at the beginning of the Great Tribulation is not reasonable chronologically.

2. The man on a white horse goes forth conquering with a bow, but Jesus clearly identified in Revelation 19 as fighting with a sword that comes out of His mouth (Read Rev. 19:15).

3. Revelation 19:12 says that on the head of Jesus, the King of kings, were many crowns. The man who rides on a white horse wears only one crown.

4. Jesus has already won the victory and will come next to earth to judge. He wrote to the Church in Loadicea: "To him who overcomes I will grat to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne" (Rev. 3:21).

Therefore he who rode on a white is not Jesus.

Who then is riding on a white horse? None other than the Antichrise, disguising himself as Jesus Christ, falsely claiming he is the messiah who will bring peace and prosperity to the world. The title "Antichrist" is put on him because he pretends to be Christ. For that purpose he rides a white horse (which symbolizes purity and victory), wears a crown and has a bow in his hand to conquer.

The second seal and the red horse (Rev. 6:3, 4)

When the Lamb of God opened the second seal, John saw a red horse coming, "And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword" (Verse 4).

The red horse symbolizes war and blood. War takes place when peace is taken away. I believe the red hourse also signifies communism, which is symbolized by the color red.

The third seal and the black horse (Rev. 6:5, 6)

When the third seal was opened, John saw a black horse, and its rider had a balance in his hands. This is a time of great famine. The shortage of food is so severe that its sale will be rationed by being weighed in the balance - "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; do not harm the oil and the wine" (Verse 6).

Famine and economic ruin are always the aftermath of war. During the war, resources are consumed by the war effort, as are available workers, and industrial facilities are destroyed.

The rider of the black horse is forbidden, however, to harm the oil and the wine. Why? I believe it is because olive oil and wine are precious things used for sacrifices to God. But apart from them there will be a dreadful famine and economic devastation.

The fourth seal and the Pale horse (Rev. 6:7,8)

The mention of the horse's color makes us shudder - "So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth" (Verse 8).


It is obvious from this account that both Death and Hades were revealed to John as being persons. Only a person could sit on a horse, and only another person could follow along with this first one.

In one sense death is a state or condition. It is the cessation of life, the experience which results in the separation of the spirit from the body. However Death is also a person. Death is the dark angel, the minister of Satan who claims the spirit of every unrighteous person that is separated from his body when he dies.


A similar truth applies also to Hades. In one sense Hades is a place of confinement for departed spirits. In another sense, however, Hades is a person. Hades, like Death, is a dark angel, a minister of Satan, following close upon the heels of Death. Hades take charge of the spirits of the unrighteous which have been claimed by Death and conducts them to the realm of departed spirits from which he receives his name - that is, Hades.


John saw Death and Hades moving among men in that order: first Death, claiming the departing spirit, then Hades, taking thme to their prison in the lower world.


John saw that, "Power was given to them (Death and Hades) over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth" (Verse 8).


Since the population of the world is now 6.77 billion (as at April, 2009), one-fourth is 1.69 billion people. During the first three and one-half years of the Great Tribulation, nearly 1.7 billion will die on account of war (ssword), famine and other disasters!


The fifth seal and the martyrs (Rev. 6:9 - 11)


When Jesus opened the fifth seal, John saw "under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held" (Verse 9, emphasis added).


These are the people who became martyrs during the first three and one-half years of the Great Tribulation. They are said to be "under the altar." Since the altar is the place where sacrifices are offered, they are there as a sacrifice offered to God. They weep bitterly and plead to God that He will take His revenge quickly. If they had earlier believed in Jesus Christ and been caught up into heaven (raptured), how much better it would have been for them!


But then Jesus gives them white robes. Those are given to comfort them. And Jesus tells them they should rest yet for a little while until their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed (Verse 11).


Here we find that God continues His work of salvation even while the Great Tribulation is going on, like a farmer gleaning ears of grain, because if one more soul can be saved, God wills to do it! That is the love of God!


The sixth seal and the disasters in nature (Rev. 6:12 - 17)


As soon as the sixth seal is opened, fearful things will happen on the earth and in heaven. A great earthquake will take place, the sky will become pitch black with volcanic ash, and the moon will become red due to the ash and dust (read Verse 12). The sky will be rolled together like a scroll (read Verse 14). So severe will the earthquake be that every mountain and island will be moved out of its place, and the stars will fall out of the sky (read Verse 13).


When such phenomena occur, everyone from kings to slaves will hide themselves in caves and in the rocks of the mountains They will cry to those mountains and rocks: "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand" (Verse 16, 17)?


Notice that in spite of such terrible happenings, those people still do not repent to God but pray to the rocks and stones. People are so foolish! God wants to deliver the, but they would not repent. What a heartbreaking scene that will be!


Six seals have been opened thus far. Between the sixth seal and the seventh, a parenthetical scene appears, and we see God sealing those preachers who will deliver the remaining people on earth during the first half of the Great Tribulation.