Jesus spoke of a terrible time that would occur just before the time of His second coming. He referred to this as ‘the great tribulation’.
When do you expect the great tribulation to happen? Soon?
C’mon, let’s see what Jesus told the disciples about the great tribulation in the ‘Olivet Discourse’, 2000 years ago (Matthew 24:20-22).
In that discourse, He was answering the disciples’ questions. They remembered his words and these were recorded in the books of Matthew, Mark and Luke, in the New Testament for readers of all generations.
Verse 20: “When you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ . . . . then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains . . . Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.
Jesus told the disciples they would see the Abomination of Desolation—a sacrilegious defilement of the holy temple in Jerusalem—as the signal for them to get out of Judea and escape the Great Tribulation.
Note the references to Judea and the mountains, to the winter (when Judea gets very cold) on the Sabbath (the limits of travel on that day). The warning is for the people of the generation he is addressing—it is ‘your flight’. Not a warning for people 2000 years hence, but to people who observe the Sabbath, Jews.
Jesus does not know the timing of this (see v.36) so he warns the disciples of his own generation.
So, it has already happened, right?
It is impossible to conclude otherwise. Unless you think that Jesus was mistaken—perish the thought!
Stop worrying.
Verse 21: For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.
Jesus said this time of utter devastation would never be repeated. His term nor ever will shows this will not be the end of the world—again, no one could flee then!
This terrible time is one of the things that would happen before ‘this generation passes away’ (v34).
22 Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.
We know that the Jews who believed Jesus, the ‘elect’ left Judea and fled to the mountains, following His instructions, and were saved.
But the people remaining in Jerusalem and Judea were cut down not only by the Romans but also by one another in a terrible civil war—bringing the unprecedented horror events of 68-70 AD, described in great detail by the Jewish eyewitness historian Josephus in his War of the Jews, book 6, chap. 5, sec. 3.
On His way to the cross, Jesus said to weeping women “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are those who cannot bear and the wombs that have not given birth, and the breasts that have not nursed.” (Luke 23:27-31) They must be very concerned for terrible events would happen in their own generation.
History records several temporary cessations of the assaults by the Roman army when the elect, those who followed Jesus, would have had the opportunity to escape from Judea. That’s history.
Thus all this talk about the great tribulation happening in the future and who will face it or who will escape it with some ‘rapture’ event is totally irrelevant. Paul’s letter (Thessalonians 4:16-17) has no hint of anyone fleeing anything but rather people being united with Jesus forever. Right?
Ian Thomson 