Is There a Seven-Year Tribulation?
Is There a Seven-Year Tribulation?
Is the Great Tribulation three and a half years or seven years?
By Irvin Baxter
QUESTION: Jay from Texas asks Irvin to explain his thoughts on there not being a seven-year tribulation in the Bible.
 
ANSWER: Many people say that there is a seven-year tribulation but there’s not one scripture to prove that. However, there are six specific scriptures that say the great tribulation will last for three and one half years. Let me give those scriptures to you. Daniel 7:25 says that the little horn (the Antichrist) will make war against the saints for time, times, and half a time. This is repeated several times throughout scripture as time being one year, times two years, and half a time being half a year. We know that for sure because the exact same prophecy is in Revelation 13:5, there it says power was given to the beast to continue 42 months. So it says he would continue for three and a half years, a time, times, and half a time. In Revelation 13:5 it says that he will make war against the saints for 42 months. Then in Revelation 12:5-6 it says that the dragon made war against the woman Israel for 1,260 days; that’s also three and a half years. All these passages are describing the length of the time of the great tribulation. Finally, Jesus said in Matthew 24:15 that when you see the Abomination of Desolation, let those which be in Judaea flee because then shall there be great tribulation such as never has been before, nor ever again shall be. So Jesus said the Abomination of Desolation is the event that will trigger the great tribulation. We know from Daniel 9:27 that the Abomination of Desolation will occur halfway through the final seven year period called Daniel’s 70th week. There is a seven-year period called Daniel’s 70th week, described in Daniel 9:27. But the Abomination of Desolation occurs in the middle of that seven-year period, and Jesus said that’s the event that triggers the Great Tribulation. So the first three and a half years of Daniel’s 70th week will not be great tribulation at all, it doesn’t start until the halfway point.
Shelly
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