Theological Digression: The Purpose of the Tribulation

In Daniel chapter 9 we find this intriguing passage:

Daniel 9:20: “And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God;
21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.
23 At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.”

As you can see in verse 24, the angel Gabriel told Daniel that seventy “weeks” had been set aside. This is one time when I must take issue with the King James translation of the Bible. The word in verse 24 is not the Hebrew word for week, which is shavuot. The verse instead uses the word shavuim, which simply means “sevens”. It does not refer to seven days, but seven of something. It is like the English word “dozen”. When someone says “dozen” it tells you that they are speaking of twelve of something, but without more information that is all you know. A better translation of verse 24 would be 70 sevens. In this context the item being counted is years. 70 sevens therefore refers to 70 periods of seven years, or 490 years.

At this point you may be wondering what this has to do with the Great Tribulation. As we’ll see in a moment, the Tribulation is the last “seven” in that group, or the 70th period of 7 years. A better title for this paper might have been “The purpose of the 70 sevens”, but I have a feeling that would have confused just about everybody! The title is still accurate, for the last 7 years is assigned the same purpose as the first 483 years.

In verse 24 the angel tells us that a period of 490 years had been set aside for “thy people”. Since the angel was talking to Daniel, and Daniel was a Jew, the people the angel is talking about must be the Jews. This is further emphasized by the fact the verse mentions “thy holy city”. Taken together, “thy people” must be the Jews, and “thy holy city” must be Jerusalem. I see no reason in the text to interpret this any other way.

The angel then lists a number of reasons why God has set aside this period of 490 years:

• To finish “the” transgression
• To make an end of sins
• To make reconciliation for iniquity
• To bring in everlasting righteousness
• To seal up the vision
• To anoint the most Holy. (The Hebrew indicates this is a place, not a person.)

It’s worth asking: whose transgressions are being finished? Whose sins are ended? Whose iniquity is being reconciled? I think the answer must be Israel. Verse 24 does not say “This period has been established for the whole world”; it specifically points out Israel and Jerusalem. They are the ones being targeted. When this period of 490 years has ended Israel’s transgression will be finished, her sins will be ended, and her iniquity will be reconciled.

It is worth noting that verse 24 specifically says the transgression. This is not an accident of translation; the Hebrew text has a definitive article here. The angel is talking about a specific transgression that will be finished. I believe the transgression being discussed is Israel’s rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. Throughout history Israel has rejected Jesus as her Messiah, and in fact continues to rebel against Him to this very day. However, Zechariah foresaw a time when that would change:

Zechariah 12:10: “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddon.”

This passage speaks of a future time when the Jews, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem (the very same people mentioned in Daniel 9:24!), realize that they rejected their Messiah and then mourn over Him with great anguish. This will happen at the end of the 490 years. Israel will realize what they have done and will turn back to God. Their rebellion will come to a final end and, as Gabriel said, their sins will be finished:

Jeremiah 21:31: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord:
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

This passage echoes Daniel 9:24 very closely. It speaks of a new covenant with the house of Israel. It is very important to realize that this passage is not directed at the Church, which didn’t even exist at the time. Jeremiah 21:31 does not say “I will make a new covenant with all people”. It specifically lists Israel – not once, but twice (verse 31 and 33). I have seen people apply this passage to the Church but I do not think that is valid. (I realize the book of Hebrews quotes this verse, but to whom was the book of Hebrews written? Why, to the Hebrews. The Jews, in fact. There are some promises in the Bible that are specific to the Jews and do not apply to the Church as a whole. But that is a topic for another day.)

What we see here is that when this period of time is over Israel’s iniquity will be forgiven, her sins will be forgotten, and all of the Jews will know the Lord. Notice that verse 34 really does say “they shall all know me”. Paul made this same point in Romans chapter 11.

So, what we see in Daniel 9 is that 490 years have been set aside to bring an end to Israel’s rebellion against God. Gabriel, however, has more details to share:

Daniel 9:25: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.”

This verse says that the Messiah will appear 483 years (that’s 69 periods of 7 years each) after the decree goes out to rebuild Jerusalem. This period of time broken into two parts; there is a period of 49 years, followed by a period of 434 years. It should be noted, as a matter of historical fact, that after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem was issued it took 49 years to rebuild that city (which you can read about in the book of Nehemiah). Then, 434 years after Jerusalem was rebuilt, the Messiah was crucified. There were exactly 483 years from the time the decree was issued to rebuild Jerusalem until the death of Christ on the cross. (As an aside, when the Bible mentions years in prophecies it uses 360-day years. A detailed discussion as to why that is the case is outside the scope of this paper, but I wanted to mention it.)

Had the Jews been paying attention they would have known exactly when the Messiah would die. However, they weren’t paying attention, and the consequences were very severe:

Luke 19:41: “And when he [Jesus] was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes.
43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
44 And shall lay the even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”

Jesus says here that Jerusalem was destroyed because the Jews did not know “the time of thy visitation”. They should have realized that Jesus was the Messiah but they didn’t. They ignored the very clear prophecy in Daniel that specified exactly when Christ would come. There should have been nothing unexpected about His arrival.

As an aside, this is one reason why liberal scholars hate the book of Daniel. For years they claimed that the prophecies in it must have been added centuries later because they reject the very idea of prophecy. (It’s amazing how the Bible must be wrong simply because it disagrees with somebody’s theory. What kind of logic is that?) This theory died a quick death when copies of the book of Daniel were discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls – copies that predated the birth of Jesus by centuries.

Daniel 9:26 goes on to say what we’ve just said – that the Messiah would be killed at the end of the 483rd year:

Daniel 9:26: “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.”

Notice that it says “after 62 weeks”. Keep in mind verse 25 says there will be 7 weeks, followed by 62 weeks. The 7 weeks (or 49 years) were the rebuilding of Jerusalem; after those years were finished the 62 weeks (or 434 years) took place. The Messiah died 69 weeks later (or 62 weeks + 7 weeks), which is 483 years. Once again, this is all made much harder to understand because the King James Bible incorrectly uses the word “week” instead of “sevens”.

What all of this means is that when Jesus died (but “not for himself”, as verse 26 points out – He died for us, to pay for our sins), 483 years of the 490-year period had taken place. Just as verse 26 prophesied, after Christ died and rose again the city of Jerusalem and her Temple were destroyed. However, Christ’s death stopped the clock. There is a gap between the “cutting off” of the Messiah and the last period of 7 years. The next verse talks about this:

Daniel 9:27: “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspeading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

Here we find our missing period of 7 years. It begins when “he” (not the Messiah this time, but the Antichrist) confirms “a covenant with many for one week”. In other words, the Antichrist signs a seven-year treaty with “many” nations, of which Israel seems to be a part. This period of 7 years is the 7 years of the Tribulation. In the middle of this period (or 3.5 years into it) the Antichrist will stop the sacrifices that are being made in the third Temple, will walk into its Holy place, and will declare himself to be god. (This is discussed in 2 Thes. 2:3-4.) After that things will get really bad really fast – in fact, Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 24 that when the people of Israel saw this took place they should run for their lives. The last half of the Tribulation will be far worse than the first.

At the time this paper was written only 69 of the 70 “weeks” have taken place. There is only one “week” left – the 7 years of the Tribulation. As we’ve just pointed out, what starts that last period is not the rapture of the Church but the signing of a treaty with the Antichrist. So far that has yet to occur, but I believe we are rapidly approaching that moment.

The reason there is a gap between the 69 and 70th “weeks” is because Israel rejected her Messiah. Their rejection of Jesus caused a number of things to happen, which Paul discusses extensively in Romans. Of special interest is Romans 11:

Romans 11:11: “I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?”

We see that “through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles”. The Lord used their rebellion and hardness of heart to save the Gentiles. However, their blindness is temporary:

Romans 11:25: “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.”

Israel is blinded right now but that will only last until “the fulness of the Gentiles be come in”. I have heard it said that the word “fulness” in this verse is a nautical term that refers to having the minimum number of people required to sail a ship. In other words, the ideas was that you had to have a certain number of sailors on board before you could safely leave the shore and head out to sea. This verse seems to imply that the Church will contain a specific number of people, and as soon as she is completed the Lord will take her home and Israel will begin her final “week”. The purpose of the Tribulation, then, is to bring Israel back to God. The Lord wants to put an end to Israel’s rebellion and bring her back to Him. To do this He set aside 490 years; the Tribulation is the last of those, and will begin after “the fulness of the Gentiles be come in”.

This is another reason why I do not believe the Church will go through the Tribulation. The focus of those last 7 years is on Israel, not the Church. It is Israel that rejected her Messiah; the Church accepted Him. There is every reason for Israel to go through the Tribulation. There is no reason for the Church to do so – especially if she reaches her full number before the Tribulation begins. After all, the blinders are only removed from Israel after the Church is completed. If the Bride is complete then why leave her here? It’s worth noting that the Church did not appear on Earth until Pentecost, which is well after the first 69 “weeks” had taken place. (Yes, there will be people saved during the Tribulation – Israel, for example. But they will not be a part of the Bride anymore than Old Testament saints were part of the Bride. They were part of the Wife of Jehovah, but that is a topic for another time.)

Of course, the Tribulation will serve one other purpose. It can be found in many places throughout the book of Revelation:

Revelation 9:20: “And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.”

During the Tribulation the Lord will pour out awful judgments upon the Earth in punishment for her sins. People everywhere will realize what is going on, but as the verse says they will refuse to repent. Instead of abandoning their sins they will try to hide from God:

Revelation 6:15: “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”

Right now we live in an age of faith. We believe in Jesus even though we have never seen Him. The day will come, however, when all that will change. The Lord will pour out incredible, supernatural wrath upon entire planet, in such a way that everyone will realize the Lord is angry. When the wrath of the Lamb begins no one will question what is happening or why it is occurring. And yet, many will continue in their rebellion and refuse to believe the truth. Instead of repenting people will gnash their teeth and curse God.

In fact – and I do not know this for sure – it is possible that the only people that repent during the Tribulation is the nation of Israel and those who have never heard the Gospel. I say this because of what 2 Thessalonians says about the Antichrist. Let’s start at the beginning of chapter 2:

2 Thessalonians 2:1: “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that day of Christ is at hand.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”

There is a great deal in these verses but for our purposes it’s enough to recognize that Paul is talking about the Antichrist – the one who “exalteth himself above all that is called God” and “sitteth in the temple of God”. Three and a half years into the Tribulation the Antichrist will go into the Holy place of the Third Temple and declare himself to be god.

Let’s move on now:

2 Thessalonians 2:8: “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they should be saved.”

Here we see a few words about what the Antichrist will do – he will be a powerful figure, and will work wonders that will deceive those who do not love the truth. Of particular interest are the next two verses:

2 Thessalonians 2:11: “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie;
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Do you see what these verses are saying? Verse 11 says that God would send “them” a strong delusion. Who is “them”? This goes back to verse 10 – those who hate the truth. As a result of this, those who hate the truth would “believe a lie” so that all of them would be damned. Not one would be saved. All those who “believed not” would be eternally lost. In other words, the reason the Antichrist will be effective is because God will give him the ability to deceive all those who already hated the truth, and he will be 100% successful in this.

I think what this verse is saying is that when the Rapture happens the Lord will find those who rejected the Gospel and “send them a strong delusion” so that they will be damned. In other words, if you reject Christ and are left behind after the Rapture, you will be forever lost. Since you hated the truth God will give you a lie instead, and that you will believe, to your damnation.

It’s a frightening thought. Who, then, will be saved during the Tribulation? I think the only people who can be saved are the nation of Israel and those that never heard the Gospel. There are tremendous numbers of people alive today that have never heard anything about Jesus Christ. In all honesty the Church has done a poor job of evangelizing the world.

I do not know if this is the correct interpretation of 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12; I don’t insist upon it. But it’s worth thinking about. It would mean that if you have heard the Gospel then God wants you to be saved now. If you reject it and the Lord returns it will be too late to change your mind. God will reward your rejection of His Son with eternal damnation. After all, you knew but chose to not believe. You “believed not”, as it says in verse 12. On the day the Lord returns He simply makes that your final choice.

I mention this because it’s tempting to think “Hey, I’ll just wait until the Rapture happens. If I see that then I’ll know Christianity is true and I’ll ask Jesus to save me.” Today is the day of salvation. If you wait until Jesus comes back then you will have waited too long.