Dear Doves;

 

Exactly when does the tribulation start? I am sure you guys know about the Daniel's 70th week but there seems to a confusion between the two and I'd like to clarify that if I can.

 

Many seem to believe that the tribulation will start when the Antichrist (AC) makes the peace covenant with many, but that is not true.

 

Precisely, the Daniel's 70th week starts when the AC makes the covenant, not the tribulation.

 

Then, when does the tribulation start? The tribulation starts when the AC breaks the covenant at the half way mark of the 7 year peace period and setup the abomination.

 

Mathew 24:

 

15"So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,'^[b] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. 18Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. 19How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again."

 

 

The abomination is set up and then there will be the tribulation. We know the abomination will be set up when AC breaks the peace covenant at the halfway of the 7 year peace covenant.

 

Therefore, the tribulation does not start until 3 1/2 years after the AC makes the peace covenant.

 

 

 

What does this mean?

 

This means, even if you believe the rapture will occur just before the tribulation, you will still see the covenant taking place, know who the AC is, see Israel accepting AC as their messiah, and rebuilding of the 3rd Jerusalem temple. (major events indeed)

 

More importantly, you will know exactly when the tribulation will start by then.

 

 

You might be inclined to conclude, once you see the covenant taking place, that the rapture will happen after 3 1/2 years, but be careful. The pitfall is to wait for the rapture doing nothing to prepare for the impending tribulation after 3 1/2 years, believing God will remove the church before the tribulation.

 

 

My suggestion is, once you see the covenant taking place, prepare for the coming persecution, even if you believe in pre-trib rapture. If the rapture does take place, then great, but if not, you will still be prepared for the persecution; to feed the fleeing saints, yourself and family, and to shelter them.

 

 

I read posts regarding 'ye not in spiritual darkness' but I believe it has other implications. If you study and are aware of things like Daniel's 70th week and tribulation, etc,

then you are not in spiritual darkness. Although you might not believe in post-trib rapture, once you see the start of the Daniel's 70th week, you will know when Christ will return.

 

But those who are not Christians, and those Christians that do not study the word of God and are not interested in such matters, are in spiritual darkness. They will not know when the rapture will be and will not be prepared for the coming persecution by AC.

 

The doves are blessed in that we are not in spiritual darkness since we learn all the prophecies from each other, and we WILL know when the rapture will occur when the time comes.

 

 

Eddie Sohn

 

p.s; This realization also has many applications including this; we don't need to try to calculate the date of rapture since the Daniel's 70th week hasn't started, yet. I am rather waiting for the 7 year peace agreement to take place. Then, we will be in prophetic heaven. Imagine knowing exactly when you will be raptured and meet the Lord, once the 70th week starts. We will be more diligent in our work for the Lord since we would know exactly until when we'd have to work.