The Identification of the Period of Tribulation
There is real value in knowing the existence of such a period, and in having some idea of its general chronological location. But if this period of tribulation can be identified with any period that is otherwise clearly indicated in the Scripture, there will be great help in unfolding systematically the teaching relating to it. In this connection, the student of prophecy is directed to Daniel's prophecy of the seventy weeks (Dan. 9:24-27).
"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. 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. 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. 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 overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."
That portion of the prophecy dealing with the final or seventieth week exhibits remarkable correspondence with prophecy dealing with the tribulation. The likenesses are so exact that they lead to one conclusion, namely, that the tribulation is to be identified with the seventieth week in large part, if not the whole. Some of these likenesses and values are now indicated,
1. The seventieth week parallels the future history of Israel in the tribulation. There is the appearance of a prince who will have a definite relation to Israel (Dan. 9:26-27; Rev, 6:1-2; Dan. 11:36-38). Israel will receive this prince as her own and will make a firm covenant with him (Dan. 9:27; John 5:43; Dan, 11:37). He will then break this covenant and turn upon Israel in great persecution (Dan, 9:27; Rev. 11:7; 12:6-17; 13:7). This persecution is characterized by total war upon Israel and the supplanting of worship with abomination (Dan. 9:27; Matt. 24:15, 21). This will be brought to a sudden end by the return of the Messiah and the ushering in of the kingdom (Dan, 9:24; Matt. 24:29-30; 35:31),
2. The seventieth week incorporates experiences constituting the climax of the nations during the tribulation period. "The people of the prince that shall come" (Dan. 9:26), belong to the Roman Empire. This is the final empire of history (Dan. 7:23, 26), with which "the times of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24) come to a close in one universal empire dominated by this prince that shall come (Rev. 13:5, 7; 19:19-21). With indignation "the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity" (Isa. 26:20-21),
3. The seventieth week excludes any reference to the Church so far as events in the earth are concerned. It speaks clearly of Israel and the nations, but there is no mention made of the Church on earth. This is in keeping with the fact that the Church is a mystery which appears in the earth during that prophetic gap between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel's prophecy. That prophetic gap is not measured by the time of this prophecy, and time measurements which were suspended upon Christ's return to glory will not be reinstated until He comes to take the Church into heaven. During the period of the seventieth week the Church is in heaven (Rev. 4:4; 13:6; 19:7-8, 14).
4. The seventieth week provides the framework for the interpretation of the Book of the Revelation. Daniel's prophecy was sealed till the time of the end (Dan. 12:4, 9). Christ at His first coming initiated the end, and so in the Book of Revelation the prophecy of Daniel was unsealed (Rev. 22:10). The great burden of the Book of Revelation, chs. 4-19, is an expansion and elucidation of the seventieth week as set forth in Daniel 9:27. Christ at His second coming will terminate the end, and in the formal and more absolute sense, the seventieth week, the period of tribulation is that end. Within the chronological framework of the seventieth week the Book of Revelation unfolds in detail the movement of events belonging to that period.
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