End-times: the final seven years
Introduction
You are here because the topic “The Blessed Hope”, referring to the rapture of the church, directed you here to identify when the tribulation period and the pre-tribulation rapture might be. A good starting point would be Jesus’ own words the Olivet Discourse. From there, Jesus directs us to Daniel’s seventy week prophecy, and specifically the seventieth week (a week being a week of years, that is, seven years, explained later) Although we cannot specify dates, we can deduce signposts that help us to identify the start of the tribulation seven year period and, consequently, when the pre-tribulation rapture might be. However, it has to be mentioned here that recognising when the seven year tribulation has started, might mean the rapture has already happened!!The Olivet Discourse
The Olivet Discourse is the last of five discourses reported in Matthew’s gospel. The importance of this discourse is that it is the most prophetic of all Jesus' words in that it provides some detail of the end-times. Parallel passages are found in Mark 13 and Luke 21:5-36, but Matthew’s account is the most comprehensive. For our purposes here, we just need to set the scene from chapter 23, and the first three verses of chapter 24, before homing in on the relevant verse, 24. In chapter 23, we read about Jesus’ tirade against the scribes and Pharisees, given as seven woes against them in which He overwhelmingly refers to them as hypocrites. The last three verses are a lament over Jerusalem, the last of which says For I say to you, You shall not see Me from now on until you say, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." This will be at Jesus’ second coming when the Jews will finally welcome Him as their Messiah. Chapter 24 opens with Jesus leaving the temple with His disciples and heading towards the Mount of Olives.
Matthew Text
Comments
Jesus Foretells Destruction of the Temple
24:1
And
Jesus
went
out
and
departed
from
the
temple.
And
His
disciples
came
to
Him
to
show
Him
the
buildings
of
the
temple.
2
And
Jesus
said
to
them,
Do
you
not
see
all
these
things?
Truly
I
say
to
you,
There
shall
not
be
left
here
one
stone
on
another
that shall not be thrown down.
His
disciples,
perhaps
reeling
from
the
preceding
exchanges
and
wanting
to
lighten
the
situation,
brings
Jesus’
attention
to
the
magnificence
of
the
temple,
only
to
be
told
it
will
be
destroyed.
This
prophecy
was
literally
fulfilled
in
A.D.
70
when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem.
Signs of the End of the Age
3
And
as
He
sat
on
the
Mount
of
Olives,
the
disciples
came
to
Him
privately,
saying,
Tell
us,
when
shall
these
things
be?
And
what
shall
be
the
sign
of
Your
coming,
and
of
the
end
of
the
world?
The
disciples
asking
“when
shall
these
things
be?”,
were
clearly
referring
to
the
destruction
of
the
temple.
The
question
“what
shall
be
the
sign
of
Your
coming”
was
asked
because
Jesus
said
the
Jews
would
not
see
him
again
until
they
acknowledged
him
as
the
Messiah.
You
might
wonder
why
the
disciples
would
ask
about
the
end
of
the
world,
but
the
sign
of
the
end
of
the
“world”
in
the
KJV
is
not
a
good
translation.
The
Greek
word
aion
is
better
translated
as
“age”.
This
makes
sense
because
the
“end
of
the
age”
for
the
Jews
would
be
when
the
Messiah
comes,
and
Jesus
said
he
would
not
come
again
until
they
acknowledged
him
as
their
messiah.
Also,
the
destruction
of
the
temple
would
mean
that
the
Jews
could
no
longer
perform
their
sacrificial
ordnances.
To
them,
this
would
be
the
end
of
an
age.
The
disciples’ questions then were very relevant at that time.
However,
Jesus
didn’t
answer
their
first
question
but
talked
about
the
signs
of
his
second
coming,
which
we
know
is
at
the
end-times.
This
is
confirmed
by
the
use
of
the
word
‘end’
in
verses
6,
13
and
14.
Here,
the
word
used
for
‘end’
is
telos,
which
means
exactly
what
you
would
expect
it
to
mean.
Jesus’
response
was
relevant
to
events
they
would
experience, but we can see they also relate to end-times.
It’s later in verse 15 that Jesus refers to Daniel.
Here
Jesus
refers
us
to
“the
abomination
of
desolation,
spoken
of
by
Daniel
the
prophet”
and
requires
us
to
understand
it.
There
are
three
examples
of
the
abomination
of desolation in Daniel:
Daniel 9:27 tells us when the abomination will occur
Daniel 11:31 tells us how the abomination will occur
Daniel
12:11
tells
us
how
long
the
abomination
will
be
in
place
From
Daniel
9:27
we
know
this
will
be
halfway
through
the
end-time period of seven years.
The Abomination of Desolation
Mat 24:15 Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation [an event perpetrated by the Antichrist], spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand).
We should first look at Daniel’s seventy week prophecy to understand the source of the seven year tribulation.
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